Language Overflow

Anonymous

02:52

I don't agree that the comments about grammar were not constructive, but I did remove them because the grammar tag has been removed from the question, so the comment discussion seemed to be obsolete.

Anonymous

Just in case you were wondering why I removed the comments.

Anonymous

It's already been retagged, but you can still comment further if you want to talk about alternative tags to use on the question.

Anonymous

@M.A.R. I like smileys :-)

Færd

> bewilder: cause (someone) to become perplexed and confused

> perplex: cause (someone) to feel completely baffled

> baffle: Totally bewilder or perplex

Thank you, ODO.

Anonymous

03:37

Semantic primes

Semantic primes or semantic primitives are semantic concepts that are innately understood, but cannot be expressed in simpler terms. They represent words or phrases that are learned through practice, but cannot be defined concretely. For example, although the meaning of "touching" is readily understood, a dictionary might define "touch" as "to make contact" and "contact" as "touching", providing no information if neither of these words are understood. The concept of innate semantic primes was largely introduced by Anna Wierzbicka's book, Semantics: Primes and Universals. == List of semantic... ==

skullpetrol

There is no "first" word.

recursive: see under "recursive."

M.A.R.

05:57

@snailplane My comments? I never do. If you ever felt they don't contribute any to the discussion, feel free to remove them.

Inb4 goes to rant on meta about modaratorz removing comments and invoking Godwin law

skullpetrol

(removed)

:P

M.A.R.

06:20

@skullpetrol removed your face

skullpetrol

my face?

is the face of raider nation

M.A.R.

!!flip/raider nation

Ellbot

(づ๑ʖ๑)┛︵ɹɐᴉpǝɹ uɐʇᴉou

skullpetrol

!!flip/M.A.R.

Ellbot

(づಥਊಥ)づ︵W˙Ɐ˙ᴚ˙

skullpetrol

06:25

Did you watch the academy awards?

M.A.R.

@skullpetrol Nah, was asleep then

Anonymous

06:48

@M.A.R. They did contribute, though. And the question got re-tagged. :-)

M.A.R.

@snailplane I retagged it myself, but anyway, don't ever hesitate to remove my comments as you see fit

I hate comments, but they're necessary evil.

skullpetrol

!!flip/snailplane

Ellbot

(╯°ਊ°)╯︵suɐᴉꞁdꞁɐuǝ

CowperKettle

07:03

н͔͍̤͔̻͚͕̓а̹͆͜ ̓̋͊͆̚͏̯̗͉̰в̥̤̝̳̘͖͗̌с̣̗̓̾я͓̲ͥ͊ͨͯ́ͫк̨̦͌ͯ̋͆͐͑̃и̫͈̩̣̽͞й̡̮̭̏ ̥̲̰̰̫̬с͕̙̦̭̠̱̊̽̓ͮ́ͬ̄͘л̧̼̫̦̰͙̤ͬ͂у̩̹̓͑̎ч̂̍ͦ̀а̜̦̤̩̰͋͞й̊̇̽͗ ͓͕͓̱̯̮͛̏ͬ

M.A.R.

And that was the day @Cowp learned about Zalgo.

\o @Cowp

Anonymous

@Ellbot Aww, my computer's pants aren't fancy enough to render those glyphs.

M.A.R.

07:19

@snailplane The reversed l?

+1 its like 100% close i would say, Only the bluish shiny thing makes me think, it might be very close family one. — Umar 2 hours ago

If someone is 100 percent close, are they there?

0

Q: What's the difference between 'assistance' and 'rescue'

I saw two phrases 'come to one's rescue' and 'come to one's assistance'. What's the difference between them?Thank you.

meaning

Uh

M.A.R.

07:39

0

Q: Two Grammatical questions over sentences extracted from The Economist

The capture of the drone took place on the outer perimeter of China’s expansive claim to the sea, about 50 miles (80km) from the Philippine port of Subic Bay, which was once home to a large American naval base (see map). It appeared calculated to show China’s naval reach, with only minimal ris...

grammar

Anonymous

@M.A.R. I suppose so? :-)

Anonymous

It's a bit of a mystery.

CowperKettle

I've slept all through the 23-26 February holidays

Anonymous

Some of you may recall one of our more venerable Words of the Day:

Anonymous

in English Language Learners, Mar 25 '14 at 5:49, by snailboat

Word of the day: amanuensis

Anonymous

07:42

Just came up again today :-)

CowperKettle

I know that word

a helping person

M.A.R.

@M.A.R. The second sentence may actually be grammatical in a bizarre context

Anonymous

@M.A.R. What would be ungrammatical about it?

Anonymous

Do you think it should say "It appeared to be calculated . . ."?

M.A.R.

@snailplane No, I mean the second emboldened sentence

Anonymous

07:51

Oh.

M.A.R.

> . . . is a not a combat vessel.

c.f. ''is a not a real question''

Anonymous

I figured that "It appeared calculated to show China’s naval reach, with only minimal risk of any conflict—the American ship that was operating the drone, the Bowditch, is a not a combat vessel." was a sentence.

Jude Niroshan

Any feedback is/are most welcome

Anonymous

Is.

Jude Niroshan

what is correct there?

M.A.R.

07:52

@JudeNiroshan Is 'feedback' plural?

Jude Niroshan

@M.A.R. That's what I don't know. Feedback would be some suggestions after a review of my code

Anonymous

@M.A.R. What might be ungrammatical about that?

Anonymous

Feedback is singular.

Jude Niroshan

@snailplane thank you :)

Anonymous

It's also non-count.

M.A.R.

07:53

@snailplane ''is a not a''

Anonymous

@M.A.R. Ooh. Thanks for putting a magnifying glass over that part.

Anonymous

No matter how many times I read it, my brain automatically corrected it for me.

Anonymous

So I just couldn't figure out what was strange about it.

Jude Niroshan

@snailplane hahah. it's so natural :)

M.A.R.

@snailplane I only saw it the third time anyway.

Anonymous

07:55

Yes, if "not a combat vessel" was some kind of compound noun formed from a noun phrase, it could be grammatical. Good point! But that does seem unlikely. :-)

Anonymous

@CowperKettle That's quite a while!

CowperKettle

@snailplane I feel odd. Heavy head and bouts of heartbeat. Pain in the back of the head. O_O Will go to a doc tomorrow

affinelayer.com/pixsrv

I've just drew (drawn?) this cat

(0:

M.A.R.

Drawn

@CowperKettle Are you a bear?

CowperKettle

No

Anonymous

@CowperKettle Oh, I hope everything's okay!

M.A.R.

08:03

How can you sleep for three days, then?

CowperKettle

I hope so too. I did went jogging though. Jogging was normal, the usual 40 minutes

*did go

M.A.R.

0

A: What's the difference between these two phrases

Rescue is to save someone or something from a dangerous, harmful, or difficult situation Assistance is to provide help or support, typically meaning in the sense of resources (see for example).

:(

M.A.R.

08:33

The salesman won an Oscar! \o/

M.A.R.

08:51

0

A: Two Grammatical questions over sentences extracted from The Economist

It appeared calculated to show China's naval reach . . . It appeared calculated can be interpreted in two ways. You can interpret it as an adjective, meaning "it appeared to be planned and intended", which would follow the pattern "subject+appear+adjective". It's normally interchangeable wit...

Can someone proofread that for technical inaccuracies? Looking at @Snail

userr2684291

09:52

@M.A.R. Not a technical kind of correction, but in "The interpretation which applied here, though, was interpretation" there are a couple of omissions.

Damkerng T.

!!translate/warum schlägt Kaspersky hier alarm? Ich bin verwirrt...

Ellbot

de: warum schlägt Kaspersky hier alarm?
en: Why does Kaspersky alert?

Damkerng T.

Ah, thanks, @Ellbot!

CowperKettle

10:57

> As you might have expected, there was a negative relationship between these two variables: the more that students thought animal research is wrong, the less they thought it is necessary.

Looks like a typo

onlinestatbook.com/2/estimation/correlation_ci.html

userr2684291

11:40

Not really.

Damkerng T.

12:00

I would like an explanation of the downvotes, please. — TRomano 33 mins ago

Anyone?

(I didn't downvote the answer, BTW.)

I don't doubt his usage of supposed to, but it looks like he suggests that it's basically and should be understood as a passive voice, which could be confusing to learners.

For one thing, as Colin Fine wrote in his answer, we can't say I suppose him to go to convey the same meaning as He's supposed to go.

I think that's why, but I'm guessing.

Jude Niroshan

@DamkerngT. hey!

Damkerng T.

Hi!

userr2684291

@sun-solar-arrow "if you found wrong grammar at my post, Please improve the post." should be: "If you find a mistake in my post, please correct it."

I'm not sure what you mean by "post", though.

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Hope you'll feel better soon!

@CowperKettle It looks like a cat from afar, but it's scary up-close!

userr2684291

12:17

@DamkerngT. The OED says: "with acc. and inf. (The passive of this, which is very frequent, expresses the fact of the subject being credited with some action or quality: now esp. = to be expected, intended, or meant; to have as a duty, to be obliged.)"

I always think of it as a passive construction.

Damkerng T.

@userr2684291 I guess it's fair to say it's a passive, butif it's so, it's a passive that has no active equivalent.

userr2684291

@DamkerngT. The OED says "the passive is very frequent".

V.V.

I deleted my answer, an old one, it was downvoted, then they found T R.

userr2684291

@V.V. Who found them?

V.V.

Bill, I suppose, there's a new question which is on hold after someone found these answers.

He wrote comments to the question saying It's not to be considered passive.

userr2684291

12:30

@V.V. Well, the OED considers it a passive construction, so he's wrong.

V.V.

That's the old version

I am inclined to believe him, he gives very clever answers.from the point of modern grammar.

This isn't the first time the question arises (participle-adjective )

Though he didn't call it an adjective directly.

It's an interesting topic though.

@CowperKettle Are you OK?

CowperKettle

@V.V. yes, thank you!

trying to understand statistics O_O

0

Q: Meaning of "because p is a mean not a total" in the derivation of the standard error of p

From onlinestatbook's section on "Sampling distribution of p": I don't understand this phrase. If p had been "a total" (if the entirety of the population were sampled?) we would have divided the formula by something other than N?

self-study distributions

SmokeDetector

13:16

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Offensive answer detected: When to use "quiet" and "silent"? by user50256 on ell.SE

M.A.R.

14:40

@userr2684291 I suddenly feel too lazy to look up what you said.

M.A.R.

15:15

Hey @Colleen

When downvotes are explained, I suddenly feel as if I have gotten none

ColleenV

@M.A.R. Howdy, what's shaking? I'm a little distracted. The stuff has hit the fan at work.

M.A.R.

@ColleenV Why? Something broke?

I've actually set the answering bar much lower, and I've answered a bunch today

Also it seems ELL is suffering a math.SE invasion

ColleenV

@M.A.R. Big change went live this morning, and I see some inconsistencies that are a little concerning.

I will spare you the details, because they will make your eyes glaze over :)

M.A.R.

Chemicals don't have eyes

M.A.R.

15:39

in English Language & Usage, 16 secs ago, by M.A.R.

Wait, is the name of the auxiliary 'do' in questions 'emphatic do'? O.O

O.O

Man_From_India

16:03

0

Q: Is this sentence grammatically correct? Beginning a sentence with 'with'

I am unsure about the following sentence: With research being an important milestone for the faculty, I hope to increase the output of my publications in the future. I'm unsure about starting the sentence with 'with'. Is the above grammatically correct?

sentence-construction prepositional-phrases

M.A.R.

@Man_From_India Hey preposition guy

Man_From_India

:D

M.A.R.

GAH, what is wrong with me today? I'm answering questions, and I'm being nice to other users.

@Man_From_India How's you?

Man_From_India

@M.A.R. Melted in the heat :'(

How about you?

M.A.R.

@Man_From_India Are you secretly an ice cream?

If so, I have a confession to make. I love eating ice creams.

Man_From_India

16:09

@M.A.R. noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo neverrrrrrr

M.A.R.

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

That is indeed satisfying

Ahmbro Dude

16:36

Hello

M.A.R.

Jello

Ahmbro Dude

I need a little help

"I know you are an honest person, otherwise, you would not have told me about the loss".

M.A.R.

Sure, but I won't carry any pianos.

@AhmbroDude 'the loss'. 'lose' is a verb and you can't use it as the complement of a preposition.

Ahmbro Dude

In the above sentence, how should I use the puncutation marks around "otherwise".

M.A.R.

@AhmbroDude It's usually okay because punctuation is usually okay, but some manual would tell you to put a semicolon before it and a comma after it.

Ahmbro Dude

16:42

@M.A.R I know you are an honest person; otherwise, you would not have told me about the loss" I know you are an honest person. Otherwise, you would not have told me about the loss"

You mean both of them are correct

M.A.R.

Both are correct to me, but I don't like how 'otherwise' is used much

Ahmbro Dude

@M.A.R.Should I use "however" instead of "otherwise"

@M.A.R.I guess "however" is not correct in the context

M.A.R.

@AhmbroDude 'otherwise' is the correct option. I'm not sure if it's the recommended option.

i.e. good writing

Ahmbro Dude

@M.A.R.Thanks for you time

M.A.R.

No problema

user62015

17:11

(A) My shoes are / (B) worse / (C) to wear . / (D) no error

Answer says B

I think we must replace worse to worsen

M.A.R.

@user62015 B is wrong, but I dunno how to replace it

user62015

Okay.

Damkerng T.

17:27

I'm not sure what the sentence is supposed to mean.

M.A.R.

17:40

@DamkerngT. \o

Damkerng T.

o/

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. Prolly that he hates his shoes

Damkerng T.

I suppose My shoes are bad to wear is probably okay, but I don't think we usually phrase it this way.

M.A.R.

Mhm

I was on fire today

Damkerng T.

(And if bad is passable, why wouldn't worse be okay, too?)

M.A.R.

17:42

I posted so many answers I can't even count them.

Damkerng T.

@M.A.R. Hah!

I haven't read many questions today.

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. Well, in that regard, it is prolly marginal

Damkerng T.

nods -- Agreed.

But because the test suggests worse, I'm not really sure what would be the intended meaning.

Maybe I can guess better if I can speak a language used in India.

M.A.R.

ELLing is the only thing where something is right at the bottom level, wrong in a level higher, and right again in the highest.

Damkerng T.

I guess the test must've been designed to elicit a confusion that's caused by the first language.

M.A.R.

17:44

Mhm, but you can't trust them to be that smart

Damkerng T.

@M.A.R. Oh, you may be surprised that this pattern happens often enough.

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. I don't remember any other context . . .

Damkerng T.

@M.A.R. I find it in sports, in programming, in life, and so on.

Sometimes, a naive decision is a better one.

(My connection acted up again.)

M.A.R.

Also one of the answers I posted was controversial.

I found myself to be inserting a lot of jargon into the answers. :/

I was also even nice to some users. That one is inexcusable.

IOW, I was pretty much not me on ELL today

Damkerng T.

LOL

ColleenV

17:51

@M.A.R. So I'm getting a little concerned that our chat is full of chemicals, robots, ice cream and other nonhuman sentient entities. :p I'll be OK as long as we don't get any differential equations in here. I never could understand them.

Damkerng T.

:)

ColleenV

@M.A.R. Did someone slip a catalyst into your drink?

@DamkerngT. Aren't robot smiles more like :] ? Sorry, trying to find a little joy in a sucky day at work...

Damkerng T.

@ColleenV Don't worry. I do smile like this :] sometimes. :-]

Hopefully, my smileys can make your day suck a little less. :D

ColleenV

Yep, and I bought myself a cookie with my lunch. cookies help too.

Damkerng T.

nom, nom (just thinking of it makes me feel nom-nom!)

ColleenV

17:58

I hope we don't have any sentient cookies lurking in here ...

Damkerng T.

Maybe they are! :D

ColleenV

The M&Ms commercials where the candies talk disturbs me a little bit. I don't really care if my food has eyes, but the talking is very unsettling.

Damkerng T.

I haven't seen them talk. Is it about the way they talk, or what they were talking about, or just the fact that they can talk (in the commercials)?

Talking about commercials, AMD Ryzen is really a good thing!

ColleenV

Delivery Yellow M&M'S To Russian Mafia - Funny Super Bowl XLVIII Commercial 2014

►

It's just gruesome and kind of cannibalistic

Damkerng T.

LOL

ColleenV

18:07

I'm opposed to anthromorphication on principle though...

Damkerng T.

I guess that's why I haven't seen this kind of ad over here.

ColleenV

I don't eat the yellow peanut ones any more, I feel too bad for the little guy ;)

It was a super bowl ad, they are always extreme

Damkerng T.

@ColleenV Aww

ColleenV

Every company tries to make theirs the most memorable

Damkerng T.

I heard that the price of air-time is unthinkable.

ColleenV

18:17

But if you can afford it, the price per views is not expensive

CowperKettle

Word of the Day: power

> The probability of correctly rejecting a false null hypothesis equals 1- β and is called power.

Power to the people!

3

ColleenV

A lot of people watch the game for the commercials and halftime show and not the football

CowperKettle

If I lived in the US, where fruit is cheap, I would not eat any M&M or other junk food at all (0:

I'd just buy a ton of dried fruit as snacks

And a lot of good nuts

ColleenV

@CowperKettle I have been eating fruit for my sugar fix

CowperKettle

Yay! (^_^)

ColleenV

18:20

Sugar isn't so bad for you with a big dose of fiber

But today is one of those days when I want it to go straight to my bloodstream :)

I have a nice kiwifruit for later though

They are normally a little expensive, but they were on sale 3 for $2. It was hard not to buy too many.

Damkerng T.

18:36

@ColleenV I've heard about that, too!

M.A.R.

18:47

Two answer upboats left to 4444

@CowperKettle Heh, where's this from?

0

Q: what's the difference between ''be going to'' and ''will'' in conditional sentences?

please tell me the differences. Do they connote different points? 1) you will get into trouble if you don't wear your uniform 2) you are going to get into trouble if you don't wear your uniform 1)If they don't accept me I'll try to find another school. 2)If they don't accept me...

conditional-constructions connotations

What is this a dupe of?

CowperKettle

@M.A.R. onlinestatbook.com/2/logic_of_hypothesis_testing/errors.html

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle Nice

1

Q: Does "do" fully inherit the grammar of the verb it refers to?

To avoid confusion with this question, here is an example We consider Nigeria a developing country as we do Angola. So, is that grammatical? Should I put a preposition? Can I instead say do it with? P.S. I do understand that there are less clumsy ways to say the sentence. But that's not i...