Language Overflow

Færd

03:15

@DamkerngT. Heck, we can't even say for sure if it's going to rain the very next hour or not.

Damkerng T.

For some reason, our forecasts are surprisingly accurate!

Færd

You mean in your country?

Weather forecasts?

Damkerng T.

Weather forecasts in general.

Færd

Well, they don't cease to put me in trouble.

I visit online weather sites quite often; when the weather is stable, the can be more or less reliable, but when it's unstable, not at all.

Damkerng T.

nods -- Maybe I'm more familiar with mild weather in my area.

Færd

03:26

I go on treks quite a lot; that's why it's important to me what's going to happen in the next few hours: what should I wear, bring with me, etc.

Damkerng T.

nods

In my case, it doesn't matter much, except when it rains all of a sudden!

Færd

You don't get rusty, do you?

Damkerng T.

Well, probably not. :D

Færd

:)

Man_From_India

04:00

It doesn't matter where in the sentence we use having to. It always expresses obligation: Having to ask this question again is a bummer. There it is used in a gerund phrase at the beginning of a sentence, and it is the subject. Also, in your last example, having to does not replace you have to. Having to has no subject. To replace you have to, it would be necssary to say your having to. — P. E. Dant 5 hours ago

One last note: I notice that one of your conclusions is wrong. Regarding "Love means never having to say you're sorry", you write "I think the third sentence is not in present continuous tense." However, it is indeed in the present continuous. The phrase "having to say" is in the present continuous. The simple present is "has to say." The simple past is "had to say." If you study and learn how to conjugate the verb have, you will understand. — P. E. Dant 5 hours ago

Hmmm no wonder that Yubraj is confused. These comments seem plain wrong. Not commenting/answering is one thing, but communicating wrong info is completely a different ball game. ELL is flooded with such wrong, controversial information along with good information.

CowperKettle

04:39

@Færd beautiful sunset

or sunrise

One cannot regard it with sangfroid

@Færd I visit a weather radar site that shows the current configuration of clouds (airport radar data)

yubraj sharma

05:19

Hi...

1. 'You would first have to explain what you mean by laborious before I comment"

2. "You first have to explain what you mean by laborious."

could you please tell me the differences between this two sentences?

Damkerng T.

Not very much.

Have you ever heard different people saying exactly the same sentence and yet you felt like they're saying entirely different things?

Like, sometimes Thank you can convey a warm, sincere feeling.

Sometimes it can sound aggressive, or even hostile.

These are subtleties of language.

And it's not easy to teach.

And IMHO we don't teach it, because most of us usually just know it.

Like when we see a door, why do we know it's a door, not a window?

We just know it, right?

yubraj sharma

Nods.....But in the first sentence, what is the work of "would"?

Damkerng T.

It's hedged a bit (i.e., less direct, but only a tad bit),

and it has one more piece of info.

("before I comment")

yubraj sharma

What kind of hedging it's? Is it just like "I would say", I would think ,I would imagine etc ?

Damkerng T.

Using would in an assertion or affirmative is like detaching yourself from what you say a little bit.

It's like when you speak, you can sometimes make yourself sound a little less confident by adjusting your voice (or your tone) a little.

yubraj sharma

05:29

Nods .....Could you please give me some examples of this kind of uses of would?

Damkerng T.

@yubrajsharma Probably all woulds that are not in conditionals and not ones used for the past form of will.

yubraj sharma

And here in this sentence: You would need to look up it in the dictionary.

Damkerng T.

Should you need to know its definitions. :-)

yubraj sharma

No, Why would is used in that sentence? Is it also hedging?

Damkerng T.

Could be.

I don't have its context; don't forget that.

yubraj sharma

05:35

Context could be. If want to give advice someone

Damkerng T.

Let's say I asked you, what does bank mean? How would you answer?

You can't know what my bank means because you don't have the full sentence, right?

@yubrajsharma If the context is someone is telling another someone to do something ...

would can make it sound less direct.

Basically, tone it down, soften it, make it a bit more polite, less direct, etc. a little.

yubraj sharma

Nods .....Thank you. I think my doubts of 'would' have cleared now. Can you ask me any question about" would" I would try to answer

Damkerng T.

What if I say, would in your last sentence doesn't sound right?

yubraj sharma

Why ? I used "would" in hypothetical sense, (If you asked me)

Damkerng T.

But you're really asking me to ask you questions about would, aren't you? :-)

yubraj sharma

05:47

Yes

I would try to answer you (the uses or meaning of would)

Damkerng T.

So, it's better to use will or 'm gonna in your case.

But you can say, I'd like to try to answer.

yubraj sharma

But I have used" would" in a hypothetical sense or if you asked me I would try to answer

Damkerng T.

You asked me, Can you ...?. The question doesn't sound like a hypothetical one.

I think this is why most grammar books teach conditionals 0, 1, 2, 3.

yubraj sharma

If you asked me questions ,I would try to answer you

Damkerng T.

Because saying If you are here, I'd be glad sounds a bit off.

@yubrajsharma That sounds better, as a sentence, but probably doesn't sound right in the context.

yubraj sharma

05:52

Nods.....Sorry for that.

Damkerng T.

Ah, no need to say sorry. You didn't do anything wrong.

yubraj sharma

Isn't it correct to say "I would try to answer you if you asked me questions about "would".

Damkerng T.

@yubrajsharma It is correct. It is a correct sentence. But it's not quite right to the occasion.

It's like when you meet someone and you say "Bye!"

yubraj sharma

Ok I'll try to answer if you ask me questions about 'would'

Damkerng T.

It's odd because they would expect you to say "Hello!"

@yubrajsharma Good!

But we've discussed would for quite a while. Let's move on. :-)

I'm going to have my lunch, so, see you later.

Have fun learning English!

yubraj sharma

08:54

Hi @DamkerngT.

I have come here again!

M.A.R.

09:44

@yubrajsharma Hi

M.A.R.

11:41

Is the reason this chat is quiet that I was not here?

Sure hope not.

@ArtOfCode ? That links to a PPCG election chat . . . What did I miss?

-21

Q: I demand resignation of a moderator who deleted my on-topic comments

I am tired of seeing my on-topic comments deleted when they are not (1) rude or offensive (2) not constructive (3) obsolete (4) too chatty (5) other... This is not the first time that I witnessed comments are unduly deleted by moderators on ELL. I expressed my opinion on why the third link i...

Hoo boy

6

Q: Extensive edits and bounty allocation by same user

On the following question there was a 150 rep bounty which was allocated to an answer after the bounty proposer had largely edited it. This is an unusual course of action that I have never seen before so I'd like to ask if the procedure is in line with the site regulations or if a better and mo...

discussion support editing bounty

Another hoo boy

WHY DO I MISS ALL THE FUN

I leave for a couple of FRIGGING days, and we get two yummy dramas.

(┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻

@Colleen what happened to the featured meta post?

ColleenV

@M.A.R. Oh the last one didn't get any attention, and I got busy and couldn't decide on the next one to tackle

M.A.R.

Oh

ColleenV

The grammar tag frightens me :)

M.A.R.

Hullo BTW

@ColleenV I like how meta stops being so boring when I'm gone

ColleenV

Howdy :) Do you have a preference of the ones remaining?

@M.A.R. They weren't that much fun for the mods. I hope we can all get along for the upcoming holidays

M.A.R.

11:54

@ColleenV I'd've said ''anything that makes me do something'', but I have decided to decrease my SE activity for around a year.

ColleenV

@M.A.R. Starting to get a little burned out?

M.A.R.

@ColleenV Of course they weren't fun. Mods have to take in some trash from time to time.

@ColleenV No, just want to get this university entrance exam done and I'll be back in full strength.

Or full time-wasting energy.

Or similar.

ColleenV

@M.A.R. It makes me sad that the people involved spent so much time and effort bickering when it could have been put toward helping people

M.A.R.

@ColleenV IKR, and how did the Arau case turn out?

ArtOfCode

@M.A.R. I was just recommending that political chat be moved there

M.A.R.

11:56

Did he rage-quit?

@ArtOfCode A political chat that's now deleted, right?

ColleenV

@M.A.R. That was my mistake I flipped out because I'm sensitive about some stuff. I should have just said take it to election chat but it's been a long week for me

M.A.R.

Also WTH, America chooses a racist to be POTUS.

@ColleenV What? O.o How's that related?

Arau was angry at some ELU mods because they undeleted a load of his answers

ArtOfCode

@M.A.R. Nope, it's still here I believe.

I didn't delete it, anyway

ColleenV

@M.A.R. I misunderstood - there's some deleted comments in the chat transcript I thought you might have seen

ArtOfCode

There's a couple deleted messages, actually

ColleenV

12:00

Yeah I confessed my transgressions to @J.R. and he took care of it :)

Let's keep the election talk in the chatroom set up for it and we'll all be happier I think. Folks that don't want to hear it any more can just stay out of the room

M.A.R.

So what's so exciting about PPCG election anyway?

ArtOfCode

:P

the real election chatter goes in that room

PPCG isn't having an election, but the US has just had one and people wouldn't stop talking about it, so they moved it all into that room

M.A.R.

Oh, the ''u suck ur reviewz less'' stuff

ArtOfCode

and I've been pointing people there ever since

M.A.R.

Oh

I thought there was a site election

Why PPCG?

'cause people's votes seems like a randomly generated number using a program?

ArtOfCode

12:04

Because they were the ones who started it

and none of their mods have seen fit to re-parent the room

M.A.R.

Oh. If I say ''Americans proved they're dumber than Brits'', will I be directed to that room?

ColleenV

@M.A.R. Yes

M.A.R.

Then I won't say it.

Just meta-linguistically reference it

ColleenV

:) There should be some places folks can go that they don't have to deal with the election arguing

M.A.R.

OK, AFK for a bit

ColleenV

12:08

@M.A.R. I will pick another proposal to feature this weekend sometime

I think we're getting to the ones that either no-one really cares much about or that are giant efforts

ColleenV

12:48

@M.A.R. I think we should tackle meaning and word-meaning next.

5

Q: Proposal: delete tags "meaning" and "word-meaning"

This is the description of the tag meaning: This tag is for questions which a dictionary cannot answer about what a word means. If the question is about the meaning of a word that can't be understood outside its phrase or sentence, the "meaning-in-context" tag should be also used; for the mea...

discussion featured tags tag-synonyms tag-cleaning

yubraj sharma

13:19

Hi...Damkernz

Again I would like to discuss on the topic of would. This use of would often follows in order to.
For example, In order to travel to America, you would first need a visa from the American embassy.

Is it also hypothetical use of "would" ?

M.A.R.

@ColleenV sure

Damkerng T.

13:41

@yubrajsharma When saying anything like that, it's like we're painting it with should, with a trace of hypothetical tone.

Ah, @ColleenV has a new avatar!

Oh, sorry for pining you!

ColleenV

@DamkerngT. I felt like a change :) I almost did the Wicked Witch but decided that the Warhammer 40K Inquisition sign was more appropriate

Damkerng T.

Oh! That's from the Warhammer!

@ColleenV LOL

Damkerng T.

15:41

Word of the Day: churnalism

4

Færd

15:54

@CowperKettle :)

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle Setrise

Færd

@CowperKettle Sunrises are typically brighter, because they burst out of the comparably cleaner atmosphere of the night.

CowperKettle

Wow, wow. Good evening, all!

M.A.R.

\o

CowperKettle

I'm peeking in to star the word of the day

\o, Muhammad

Stack Exchange

17:00

1

Q: What type of conditional is 'If you go to Bay Street, you'd know you've gone too far'?

On this audio file (1:38), the woman says: If you go to Bay Street, you'd know you've gone too far. Did I catch the sentence correctly? If so, what type of conditional is this? Shouldn't it be you'll know, which is conditional type 1?

conditional-constructions

Cardinal

19:18

He was burned at the stake for --------- in the 15th century.
The answer will the word of day!

CowperKettle

20:28

Good night all

@Cardinal dividing by zero?

ColleenV

22:14

@Cardinal The first word that sprang to my mind was apostasy

2

Cardinal

22:27

Although those are great words, the intended word was heresy @CowperKettle @ColleenV

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