Language Overflow

SmokeDetector

01:42

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Repeating characters in answer: Is "hell no!" impolite? by brock on ell.SE

Man_From_India

02:12

@StackExchange there is still a forum - usingenglish.com. they once used to proofread. I don't know if they still do it or not. Haven't visited that forum for years. Will check and let you know.

Well, linking to some website means we are driving the traffic from SE. What if we propose a SE network that is specifically meant for proofreading? We would limit the word count or sentence count to some extent. That is not too long, or not too short. What do you think?

@snailplane

CowperKettle

04:12

Word of the Day: adversarial images

CowperKettle

04:50

> California just generated enough solar power to meet half its energy needs

reneweconomy.com.au/…

Yay!

CowperKettle

05:07

> List of solutions: 1. A solution of each specified solvent, with its concentration compliant with the specification;

Would this be understood as "10 solutions of one solvent per solution"?

There are 10 solvents that are investigated.

In Russian, the meaning is exactly as needed.. "one solution per each specified solvent".

V.V.

@userr2684291 Thank you.

CowperKettle

05:36

> Results of the chromatographic analysis of the reference solution. (<< name of a table)

I wonder if I can write instead

> Results for the reference solution.

Nagendra

06:19

Hello! Can anyone tell me if there's any error in the sentence "All of you except Sheena have done the homework properly"?
I think the sentence is grammatically correct but someone is saying that it's incorrect. Can you please explain?

skullpetrol

Looks ok to me.

Perhaps, "All of you , except Sheena , have done the homework properly." would be better.

Nagendra

@skullpetrol Thanks! But the guy is insisting that we have to use "their" instead of "the". I think the sentence is correct even without "their". But the guy isn't listening to me.

skullpetrol

All of you have done their homework properly.

Doesn't sound right to me.

All of you have done your homework properly.

Nagendra

06:35

@skullpetrol Can you please share any link explaining this aspect of grammar?

skullpetrol

Try searching for possessive pronouns.

!!wiki/possessives

Ellbot

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/possessives

skullpetrol

Possessive

A possessive form (abbreviated POSS) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict ownership, or a number of other types of relation to a greater or lesser degree analogous to it. Most European languages feature possessive forms associated with personal pronouns, like the English my, mine, your, yours, his and so on. There are two main ways in which these can be used (and a variety of terminologies for each): Together with a noun, as in my car, your sisters, his boss. Here the possessive form serves as an adjective...

CowperKettle

08:39

Is it acceptable to use a long dash instead of "is" in a formula explanation section?

> h – mean height of the residual organic solvent peak in the chromatograms of the reference solution.

Like this

user62015

08:56

Much is the inflow of travellers that (a)/ it is tough to book an air ticket (b)/ to Ahmedabad and the international flights too are almost over-booked. (c)/ No error (d) @DamkerngT. @Man_From_India @M.A.R. @skullpetrol @userr2684291 It shows A is the answer.

CowperKettle

09:17

yes

@user62015 I would change "much" to "such"

user62015

Okay.

Someone told me it should be so much instead of much.

And someone told me inflow should be replaced by inflow

Anonymous

Phrase of the day: the die is cast

4

Anonymous

@CowperKettle I would think so, but I'm not an expert in that sort of thing, so I'm reluctant to try to answer.

Anonymous

@user62015 I can't spot the difference between inflow and inflow.

user62015

Oh

flow*

sorry

CowperKettle

09:43

Much is the is illogical, 62015

Can I call you Six-two? (0:

user62015

Sure.

No.

I agree.

Damkerng T.

10:18

@user62015 It makes me think, is that really English?

user62015

ahahahahhaah

I agree.

Damkerng T.

I mean, sure, it seems like they want to invert "X is so much that Y" into "So much is X that Y".

But do people really do that?

user62015

Yes.

Not in real life

CowperKettle

10:36

Word of the Day: rise over run

skill patrol

What does it mean? @CowperKettle

CowperKettle

@skillpatrol the slope of a linear curve

@skillpatrol or maybe a misspelled band on the run

who knows?

bullshit or not?

(0:

skill patrol

(0:

CowperKettle

Wings- band on the run

►

skill patrol

Great song.

user62015

11:04

Hi

Urgent question

I am too impatient.

Aren't I? right?

or Am I?

skill patrol

What do you think?

user62015

Aren't?

I am too impatient?

Please fast, I need to go..waiting for me

skill patrol

Aren't I

user62015

Thanks.

Have a nice time.

Bye

skill patrol

Cya

CowperKettle

12:57

My Chrome uses 1.2 Gb of memory

What the hell

Only one window open, 4 tabs

PauloHDSousa

@CowperKettle have you ever heard about Firefox?

CowperKettle

@PauloHDSousa Yes. But I like Chrome. I loved Opera before they changed the engine

> 100.0 mg of the substance-powder was placed in a 10 mL headspace vial.

I think it should be 'was'

PauloHDSousa

13:23

'was' what?

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Hehe!

@CowperKettle All my browser instances at the moment are at about 4.5 GB of RAM in total. 33 windows, and probably over 3500 tabs.

CowperKettle

@PauloHDSousa ah, just thinking aloud

@DamkerngT. are you coding now?

Damkerng T.

Without was, it sounds like a headline.

@CowperKettle Not this minute. :-)

CowperKettle

> * "ND" stands for "not detected" here and further in the document (I wonder if it's better to write "henceforward" instead)

@DamkerngT. Why do you need 3500 tabs?

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Because I'm lazy. Mwahaha! :D

Man_From_India

13:33

1

Q: A tricky "you" vs "your" vs "yours" when using conjunctions!

Which one is correct? You need you and your partner's documents. You need your and your partner's documents. Also, am I safe to assume that the following version is certainly wrong? You need yours and your partner's documents.

CowperKettle

I hate opening too many windows. It clutters my mind

Man_From_India

A good question, but I don't have any answer :(

CowperKettle

Namaste! Upvoted (0:

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle My mind is so cluttered anyway, so I guess that's the way to go for me. :P

CowperKettle

@Man_From_India versions 2 and 3 seems okay

"double possessive"?

@DamkerngT. No! Buddhism says you must leave a single browser window and only one tab open.

To achieve the clearness of mind

Damkerng T.

13:35

I think it's better to rephrase the whole sentence. Like, Both you and your partner each needs personal(?) documents.

@CowperKettle Hahaha!

CowperKettle

Buddha just forgot to mention that..

Damkerng T.

See, it's not only Language Overflow. My tabs are also overflowing!

CowperKettle

(0:

Damkerng T.

(^_^)

CowperKettle

Damkerng T.

13:38

A browser that can't handle a thousand tabs easily is not a good browser. --Damkerng. :-)

@CowperKettle Hehehe!

CowperKettle

(0:

Man_From_India

@CowperKettle Yes right, but I wanted to know why you and your partner's documents are wrong.

Damkerng T.

Come to think of it, Both you and your partner each needs ... is pretty bad. Just You and your partner need ... would flow way better.

Man_From_India

nods

CowperKettle

@Man_From_India because "You need you" is odd

I'd expect at least "You need yourself"

Man_From_India

13:49

You can replace the subject "you" by any other pronoun. But that doesn't make it less odd. hmmm

Man_From_India

14:07

Answered the question -

0

A: A tricky "you" vs "your" vs "yours" when using conjunctions!

Your sentence #2 and #3 are correct. But sentence #1 is grammatically wrong. Please read on for explanation as to why I say your first sentence is wrong. I saw a blue bird and a yellow bird. The word "and" is a co-ordinator. What it does is coordinate two constituents of equal status. C...

Damkerng T.

14:45

What I meant was, I think the scriptwriter made fun of a certain kind of man who's seeking a woman. In our case, it's a man who pays attention to detail, who types up everything so perfectly, even in texting. The general is used as a character who's pointing out that by doing so, he's failed his mission (I guess the mission is seeking a woman). This point may or may not be true in real life, though. It's just a comedy, and the scriptwriter just used these characters as a device to get us laugh. That's all. — Damkerng T. 2 mins ago

I think it's true that explaining a joke kills the joke. :(

@Man_From_India Hmm... but I saw blue and yellow birds is fine, right? Even though it can be ambiguous.

Man_From_India

Yes it's grammatically fine. You mean ambiguous in meaning?

@DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India Yes, unlike I saw a blue and yellow bird.

Man_From_India

hmmm how? I interpret it as [blue and yellow] birds. Birds that have both the colours.

Damkerng T.

It could mean "blue birds" and "yellow birds" as well.

Man_From_India

@DamkerngT. nods

I think on that same line a blue and yellow bird is also ambiguous. It could either mean a bird with both colour, or it could mean two birds with one in blue and the other in yellow.

Damkerng T.

14:57

I don't think a blue and yellow bird can mean two birds, though.

Man_From_India

It would make it an interesting question for the main site.

Damkerng T.

This could be useful. (I've just found it.)

> Coordinating Genitives in Determinative Function in English

Man_From_India

let's check it

Damkerng T.

The question is rather hard because it's posed as "Which one is correct?"

This begs the question: correct by what standard?

Man_From_India

hmmm nice. But I was thinking if we can find anything regarding the meaning of such construction.

Damkerng T.

15:01

nods

Another related paper: cambridge.org/core/journals/english-language-and-linguistics/…

> These difficulties arise especially with the single genitive, which is judged to be totally ungrammatical in coordinations like *my wife and I's or *my wife and my. On the other hand, the alternative use of the multiple genitive, my wife's and my, conflicts with a preference for the single genitive when the coordinates are felt to constitute a single unit

So I think, maybe, none of the examples by the OP really work.

You need your partner's and your documents is probably the minimum change.

Man_From_India

Hmmm grammatically all three are correct. But now that you showed me, it's dpendent on the particular pronouns and their possessive form.

Damkerng T.

nods

Man_From_India

About the meaning consider - "Central and Eastern Europe". Two parts of Europe. I should have included all these in my answer. I think Quirk et al. has some reference about the sort of pronouns that can be used in such constructions as noted from the link you shared. But I am too reluctant to bring out that thick book :(

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India But Central and Eastern Europe doesn't have a determiner. It's different from a red and blue bird, I think.

> Image on screen shows an image of a woman’s right hand on a biometrics scanner. A graphic of a scan of the fingerprints is shown along with a graphic of a left and right hand. The four fingers on the right hand are highlighted in green. Then an image of a woman’s left hand on a biometrics scanner is shown. A graphic of a scan of the fingerprints is shown along with a graphic of a left and right hand. The four fingers on the left hand are highlighted in green.

> cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/multimedia/video/biometrics/…

"A graphic of a left and right hand" -- an interesting coordination.

CowperKettle

15:21

> Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,
Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,
And Time, that gave, doth now his gift confound.

Why does he use gainst instead of against?

With "gainst" the rhyme is broken.

okay, back to translation (0:

1

Q: "Система абсолютно не жизнеспособна" - ошибка? Слитно или раздельно нужно писать?

Элла Памфилова: «Система, созданная Путиным, Медведевым, Ельциным, абсолютно не жизнеспособна» (заголовок, "Слон") Мне кажется, что должно быть "нежизнеспособна", без пробела. Но "Слон" - качественное СМИ.. Может, раздельно - правильно? P.S. Посмотрел поподробнее - это у них цитата с "Ра...

слитно-раздельно прилагательные

My question on Russian Language SE continues to get downvotes

Because I asked whether one should write the negative particle ne together or separately from the adjective sustainable

A good question with good answers

But the sentence (by chance!) goes like

> The system created by Putin ... is absolutely unsustainable.

userr2684291

@CowperKettle "Hereinafter (referred to as)", or simply enclose the abbreviation in parentheses right after the abbreviated phrase.

CowperKettle

@userr2684291 thank you!

userr2684291

@CowperKettle In Croatian it would be "neodrživo", but "ne održati" (verb) and "neodrživost" (noun).

(c:

userr2684291

15:53

@CowperKettle The rhyme isn't broken.

Damkerng T.

16:40

1

Q: Can we put 'a' in front of uncountable nouns?

Can we put 'a' in front of uncountable nouns like love, hate, peace?

indefinite-article countability

A simple question, but a fundamental one. So it's not an easy one.

The problem is, taking it too deep or too far could confuse the OP even more.

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. Crap.

Crap crap crap CRAP

Damkerng T.

It depends, I think.

M.A.R.

That OP is prolly not going to understand a good answer by Araucaria

And their further questions will show it

Damkerng T.

nods

M.A.R.

It's like a movie repeating itself

The ELL Island

Damkerng T.

16:43

It's like when someone asks "Why is Pi important?" and we can have several levels of answers, from several perspectives.

Færd

Who is committing the crap here?

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. Pi is delicious

Damkerng T.

Hehe! I knew you would think of pie!

M.A.R.

@Færd Unintentionally committing crap

And that OP

Who IIRC asked what 'OP' means on meta.ELL

Damkerng T.

It's fair to ask if he didn't know it, though.

M.A.R.

16:46

@DamkerngT. Hmm. That stuff is explained in different meta.SE posts, which, to 95 percent of the SE 2.0 users, are totally alien

Færd

The main point of an answer to that question can be Not normally!, plus as much further detail as the answerer sees fit.

Damkerng T.

Yes!

userr2684291

But you can't put an indefinite article before an uncountable noun. Period. If you can do it, then that nouns acts as a countable one. Am I not in the right?

Damkerng T.

Sure, but that's why it's confusing to learners.

M.A.R.

@userr2684291 Just like every other frigging pseudo-rule in every subject, when they learn something, they think the stuff they learned is unbreakable

So they only get utter confusion when their rule is confronted, and don't know any longer what they know or don't know

Then give up altogether

CowperKettle

17:02

@userr2684291 I think it is

> Can we put 'a' in front of the uncountable noun like love, hate, peace? Please, give me the answer.

He describes himself as an English teacher.. Doesn't he have time to read some textbooks?

sigh

\o, Muhammad

M.A.R.

Whatever he is, he's not a teacher

@CowperKettle \o Tyoma

> I am a English teacher in Korea. And I want to Know how native speakers think about English. I hope you help me! Thanks.

Shivers

He's ''a'' English teacher

Hullo @Nagendra! Welcome to our chat!

Nagendra

Thank you!

Can you please answer this question?

M.A.R.

What a nice question!

Very complicated

Nagendra

One who goes to settle in another country.

Options are Immigrant, Alien, citizen, Emigrant.

M.A.R.

@Nagendra This is not a complete sentence

Oh

@Nagendra 'Immigrant' seems to be what they want.

userr2684291

17:13

@CowperKettle "Nativity, once in the main of light — Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight" This rhymes, irrespective of the omitted "a".

CowperKettle

@userr2684291 From a nitpicking standpoint - yes it does rhyme. I lack the knowledge of poetic terminology, but what I mean is "the line lacks one syllable, it is too short"

And when you pronounce a-gainst, it all clicks together perfectly

Nagendra

@M.A.R. Why not Emigrant?

M.A.R.

@Nagendra That person would naturally be an emigrant, so the question is stupid

userr2684291

@M.A.R. There's a distinction, obviously, and because of the word "go", I would choose "emigrant". If you go to live somewhere, you're an emigrant. If you come to live somewhere, you're an immigrant.

Nagendra

@userr2684291 An Indian who's living in America is an immigrant for Americans but an emigrant for us. Right?

userr2684291

17:33

@Nagendra Yeh.

Nagendra

@userr2684291 Thanks!

M.A.R.

18:18

Say both out loud and you already know the answer. That's a good rule of thumb for any grammar question. — Won't 2 mins ago

but it's not grammar!

:(

CowperKettle

18:35

> Read both Huddleston and Pullum and you already know the answer. That's a good rule of thumb for any grammar question. However, you will then need to find the way out of the asylum.

The Invincible

The Invincible (Polish: Niezwyciężony) is a science fiction novel written by Stanisław Lem and published in 1964. The Invincible originally appeared as the title story in Lem's collection Niezwyciężony i inne opowiadania ("The Invincible and Other Stories"). A translation into German was published in 1967; an English translation by Wendayne Ackerman of the German translation was published in 1973. It was one of the first novels to explore the ideas of microrobots, artificial swarm intelligence and "necroevolution", a term suggested by Lem for evolution of non-living matter. == Plot summary == A...

I'm listening to this audio book

Very interesting

> It was one of the first novels to explore the ideas of microrobots, artificial swarm intelligence and "necroevolution", a term suggested by Lem for evolution of non-living matter.

ColleenV

21:36

We have a new tag and I could use some help finding questions that belong to it:

ell.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/periphrastic-modals

@snailplane is teaching me enough to make me dangerous :P

Catija

@ColleenV You'll have to figure that out without me. That sounds like it's contagious.

ColleenV

@Catija Lol, it's actually something that you already know, you just don't know the terminology for it ;)

I copied some of what snailplane told me into the tag description. (with permission of course)

Transcript for