Language Overflow

Damkerng T.

00:43

@snailplane Interesting! -- I can see that all of them are in either transcripts or novels, but again, it's clear that to the transcript writers and the writers, the period is the choice.

@snailplane Howdy! is a bit different, I suppose.

We still write It's, He's, ... in contrast to gonna, gotta, ...

I think Howdy! is somewhat like gonna, gotta, and friends.

But the line is probably not that clear.

I suppose asking if How do you do is a question may have the same effect as asking how many words It's or He's has.

To most learners, I'd say the technical side of these is less important than the practical side of the usage.

In another question...

I followed some links from here to the main site, and I had to dig up some old revisions to understand what was going on!

ell.stackexchange.com/revisions/126811/1

> According to this information (Source) there are three conditions when we can't omit that
...

I followed the link to the source and found that the source says an entirely different thing!

In the original source:

> As a general rule, if the sentence feels just as good without the that, if no ambiguity results from its omission, if the sentence is more efficient or elegant without it, then we can safely omit the that. Theodore Bernstein lists three conditions in which we should maintain the conjunction that:

See how we jumped from should maintain to can't omit?

(It looked rather bad when I saw can't omit, which made me think the source must've been a bad site too.)

Oh, no!

This answer's got +5!

Hmm... I don't know why this answer's got 5 upvotes because it doesn't address the real question of the question, which is the choice of tense after until, not the one after will have. -- To make it more obvious using your example, why didn't you use By the time he got home, he will have played for six hours hours in the park in your example like the example in the question does? — Damkerng T. 21 secs ago

It makes me think (sorry, I'm gonna be blunt), do we read?

Now I wonder if I should downvote the answer to compensate the +5?

@M.A.R. I think his point is valid, and you sure know this. :-) -- BTW, what about arsenic? I'm not sure what you meant

@Brock Looks like @userr2684291 handled your question very well. :-)

Here, you can learn the basics of modas. — Lucian Sava 7 hours ago

It's an interesting video.

I don't know why, but I think I lost my attention in less than 10 seconds.

Maybe it was the pace of her speech, which was obviously too slow, or maybe it was another X-factor, which I think relates to which kind of medium is better to convey which kind of information.

I think in this case, books trump videos.

A window you need to deal with before the return to the form? Sorry, wrong stack. — Stephen S 3 hours ago

Haha!

Damkerng T.

01:52

@LucianSava To clarify further, the second "will have" can be elided precisely because it is repeated, and therefore implied by context. — Monty Harder 8 hours ago

Hmm... how often do we elide aux. verbs like this, across two clauses?

Hmm... across two clauses is too loose. Maybe across the main clause and a subordinate clause is better.

> ?I will eat it if he eat too.

Nah, that sounds wrong!

Anonymous

02:14

Hmm, I'm not sure those comments make sense.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Howdy is kind of like goodbye.

Damkerng T.

nods -- It was good-bye and now goodbye!

Anonymous

People say howdy with no awareness of its origin in how do you do, the same way people say goodbye with no awareness of its origin in God be with ye.

Damkerng T.

Oh, if we want to go way back, yes! :D

Anonymous

Today, howdy and goodbye are pre-formed words made in the lexicon, and they are not synchronically contractions of those phrases.

Anonymous

02:16

But howdy formed a bit more recently.

Damkerng T.

02:57

0

Q: There was no more status quo of a candidate than Clinton

I have a question about some phrase structure: And there was arguably no more status quo of a candidate than Clinton, who has been portrayed as an ultimate Washington insider, having been a former first lady, New York senator and secretary of state in President Barack Obama's first term. ...

Looks like everyone overlooked it.

It's Clinton having been [those], not just Clinton.

Damkerng T.

03:12

Wow. English is really hard!

CowperKettle

03:46

> Error: DS_S_SUCESS

(0:

Word of the Day: posology

I wonder why it's not dosology

> Depending on which Regulation this document is required under the fields contained in the summary may vary.

I read this sentence 3 times before I understood its meaning

Summary of Product Characteristics

The Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC or SmPC) is a specific document required within the European Commission before any medicinal product or biocidal product is authorized for marketing. This document is required under a number of different European Regulations, e.g. Regulations concerning medicines and Regulations concerning biocidal products. Depending on which Regulation this document is required under the fields contained in the summary may vary. However, in general this summary is the definitive description of the product both in terms of its properties, chemical, hazardardous properties...

Brock

04:26

@DamkerngT. There ?

Javed Ahmed

05:03

Hi

Anyone there?

What is the term for the phrase - "something is meaningless until someone gives meaning to it”

?

Javed Ahmed

05:29

Does anyone know a term or word for the above phrase

user178049

06:53

@JavedAhmed Could you give the sentence. Rephrasing it might be better.

M.A.R.

08:53

@JavedAhmed What does it mean to provide a term for a sentence? Is this a puzzle?

@DamkerngT. I won't ever admit someone made a valid point other than myself. And you said something like ''we need As on ELL''

Damkerng T.

@M.A.R. Oh, I did?!

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. Yeah, on that meta.ELL comment

Damkerng T.

Hopefully it was just a typo.

M.A.R.

16 hours ago, by M.A.R.

@M.A.R. I think the bad practice you may have seen comments warning against was linking to an external source without quoting or summarizing the content. Just a bald "here, read this" link, which means "your answer is somewhere else", and prohibited for that reason across SE. The major reason is this is a Q&A site, so we want As here, as well as considering what happens to "link only As" when that link inevitably breaks. Then the A is useless. — Dan Bron 5 mins ago

The major reason is this is a Q&A site, so we want As here

Damkerng T.

Oh! LOL

Yeah, we want both Qs and As!

M.A.R.

09:03

I'm gonna use As against people that tag their question as grammar.

Damkerng T.

Don't know if people will understand the tag!

@JavedAhmed Sounds like something-ism. But I can't think of a good one at the moment.

M.A.R.

Meaningism

Damkerng T.

@Brock Hello. :-) You can post your questions right away in chat. People can look at it right away if they're around or they can look at it later when they come in later.

@M.A.R. LOL

userr2684291

09:24

0

A: Is the meaning conveyed in the two sentences the same?

He is right that did is used when something is performed and had is used when something is possessed. The second sentence is in fact correct because the idea is being possessed here. In other words, someone had no idea that it was possible.

Damkerng T.

@userr2684291 Hmm... interesting reasoning in the question

Javed Ahmed

I can't recall the term for the phrase but it had phenomenon included in it.

Damkerng T.

So it's not only one word, right?

Javed Ahmed

yes

It's not only one word

What could it be?

containing phenomenon

I am not sure if it was "something phenomenon"

or "phenomenon of something"

Damkerng T.

09:39

I guess you'll have a better chance at the Philosophy stack (if it exists; I've never looked for it).

CowperKettle

Observer effect

Observer effect may refer to: Hawthorne effect, a form of reactivity in which subjects modify an aspect of their behavior, in response to their knowing that they are being studied Heisenbug of computer programming, where a software bug seems to disappear or alter its behavior when one attempts to study it Observer effect (information technology), the impact of observing a process while it is running Observer effect (physics), the impact of observing a physical system Probe effect, the effect on a physical system of adding measurement devices, such as the probes of electronic test equipment Observer...

Could be this

Damkerng T.

Could be, but it's too physics-ish.

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. Cognitive Sciences

CowperKettle

> "Existence precedes essence" means that humans exist first before they have meaning in life. Meaning is not given, and must be achieved. With objects—say a knife for example, there is some creator who conceives of an idea or purpose of an object, and then creates it with the essence of the object already present. The essence of what the knife will be exists before the actual knife itself.

> Sartre, who was an atheist, believed that if there is no God to have conceived of our essence or nature, then we must come into existence first, and then create our own essence out of interaction with our surroundings and ourselves.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existence_precedes_essence.

Existence precedes essence

Albert Camus

Albert Camus (French: [albɛʁ kamy]; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, and journalist. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. He wrote in his essay The Rebel that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. Camus did not consider himself to be an existentialist despite usually being classified as a follower of it, even in his lifetime. In a 1945 interview, Camus rejected any ideological associations: "No, I am not...

Highly recommended by CowperKettle

I came across his books in the university, and loved them

Damkerng T.

Oh, this one sounds like it!

user62015

09:52

Hi

(A) Every poet and every artist / (B) was / (C) in their seat. / (D) no error

Answer says "B"

@DamkerngT. @M.A.R. Please help me

Damkerng T.

@user62015 Hmm... does it really matter.

If the answer wants B, why seat not seats?

userr2684291

@DamkerngT. Haha, yeah, that answer is misleading and should be downvoted.

Damkerng T.

@userr2684291 They're probably just another learner.

Who apparently has a similar idea to the OP's friend!

@user62015 If you got the test from here, don't worry; they're just wrong.

(And you probably should question everything on that site.)

I found the same sentence in another book, and I thought they (he?) might've got it wrong too, at first:

user62015

10:10

Every takes singular helping verb

right?

Damkerng T.

user62015

Right

Damkerng T.

@user62015 Yes.

user62015

seats would be the answer, right?

Damkerng T.

But after reading a bit of his(?) book (the author's name is Bhatnagar Nitin), I think he expects his in the place of their as the answer.

@user62015 No. Even Bhatnagar Nitin has the right idea in this respect, IMO.

user62015

10:13

Does it make sense?

Damkerng T.

Between that site and Bhatnagar Nitin, I think you should trust Bhatnagar Nitin more.

user62015

But every becomes their or he/she?

Damkerng T.

@user62015 In another century, when men dominated the world, his would be the choice.

Every poet and every artist -- it's probably safer to assume that all of them were male then female, back then.

user62015

Okay.

Damkerng T.

But nowadays, singular-they is common.

So, you have to read their mind what they want in the test.

Present-Day English, or something from another century, or something just plain wrong.

You can't give a right answer if they expect the wrong answer.

user62015

10:18

I agree.

(A) He / (B) needs / (C) two pairs of shoes. / (D) no error

What's wrong with it as I don't see anything wrong here.

Book says C

Damkerng T.

Strange.

Do they expect two pair of shoes?

user62015

Maybe

But I think two pairs doesn't sound wrong. Does it?

Damkerng T.

It's the correct choice, even.

> A plural verb is sometimes used with pair in the singular in senses 1 and 2. In informal North American Englishsome people use pair as a plural form:three pair of shoes. This is not considered correct in written English.

> oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/pair_1

Anyway, I don't think the test designer is American or Canadian.

user62015

No error, would be a good choice, I think, right?

Damkerng T.

Yes, I'd answer, no error.

user62015

10:26

Thank you so much.

userr2684291

@CowperKettle I only ever read the famous one, The Stranger. I'm not sure, however, that I got the gist. OK, so, the novel describes an absurdly (in an ethical sense) behaving person. What's the point? Is he trying to say that no one could be like that, it's absurd, and consequently there is such a thing as moral universalism? Because, okay, it's not like a person wouldn't flinch when killing another, but what does that prove? I don't see how the book describes existence at all.

Damkerng T.

@user62015 No problem. :D

userr2684291

I guess I could frame my reply above as a question for philosophy SE.

@JavedAhmed Meaningless until proven meaningful.

Damkerng T.

10:52

0

Q: Why the sentence "Maybe she just shared in the rent" no need BE verb?

I took the sentence Maybe she just shared in the rent from a text at [LingQ][1], I think it's a correctly sentence. But why the sentence's not need BE verb after SHE? What I mean is, why is not Maybe she IS just shared in the rent instead of the currently sentence?

grammar

This is unintentionally funny!

user62015

(A) His / (B) wages / (C) is low. / (D) no error

C

I think, it should be is lower

userr2684291

Why?

Anyway, the subject is plural, the verb is singular...

CowperKettle

11:34

> Breakdown of a bottom-mounted рН sensor during installation into bioreactor B-003.

Is this a good choice of term for a record in an industrial deviations table, I wonder

Maybe malfunction is better

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle Was it a nervous breakdown?

CowperKettle

If I don't finish translating the table in 2 hours, it will be

V.V.

11:58

@CowperKettle, it's snowing. The weather is crasy.

"Malfunction " is better.

EngFan

Heloo!1

*Hello!!

I invite you for a coffee.

or

I invite you for coffee ?

Jude Niroshan

12:22

Greetings everyone!

userr2684291

@V.V. Crazy.

M.A.R.

Creasy should be a word.

Meaning, well, ''creasy''

userr2684291

13:05

@EngFan Usually you say "Will you go to coffee with me?" or "Would you like to go to coffee?"

Araucaria Man

13:21

@user178049 @DamkerngT. @M.A.R. @userr2684291 Userr is right here "A car is expensive to run" is perfectly grammatical. It isn't a "raising" construction. "Expensive" is a TOUGH adjective. (CamGEL would say it is an adjective that takes "hollow clauses").

This means that we interpret the object of the infinitive after the adjective as being the same as the Subject of the main clause. So "A car is expensive to run" can be modelled like this: A car is expensive (for someone to run [it]).

If the Subject of the main clause is a meaningless dummy pronoun, the word it, then the adjective no longer behaves like a 'tough* adjective.

If we have a choice between to run a car is expensive and It is expensive to run a car, we will normally use the It-sentence. We don't generally like to use to-infinitival clauses as Subjects ...

Damkerng T.

I didn't say that it's wrong. I simply said it sounded strange to me.

Araucaria Man

For more info on adjectives that take infinitives see here:

11

A: To infinitive used after adjective

Adjectives which take infinitival phrases as complement fall into three camps. Some adjectives determine our interpretation of the subject of the infinitival clause. Some adjectives determine our interpretation of the object of the infinitival clause. Some adjectives don't determine our interp...

Damkerng T.

Turned out, run a car is used less often in AmE.

Araucaria Man

@DamkerngT. Yes, I know ;) @user178049 and @MAR botht thought it was weird too. So I thought it might be helpful to discuss it :)

@user178049 For more on how we don't like to use infinitives as Subjects, see here perhaps ...

8

A: 'Using a keyboard is better' v 'It's better to use a keyboard': and why IT with the infinitive?

We often use gerund-participle clauses when we want to use a verb as a Subject: Smoking is bad for you. Using a keyboard is better In English, we don't like to use infinitival clauses as Subjects, though. Although to do so is grammatical (see what I just did there?), it places a lot of strain...

@DamkerngT. That sounds probable to me, but being a Brit, I can't be sure :)

Damkerng T.

I posted a screenshot of Global English corpus here yesterday, somewhere in the discussion. :)

Araucaria Man

13:30

@DamkerngT. ooh, I missed that. Let me go and have a look ...

Damkerng T.

Here, here!

yesterday, by Damkerng T.

Araucaria Man

@DamkerngT. Nice! :)

Damkerng T.

Indeed! So, I learned something new too! :D

Araucaria Man

:D I like it when we do our own research on here

Damkerng T.

:D Me too!

user178049

13:45

Thank you @AraucariaMan. That's very helpful! :D Btw, sorry for the late response.. Connection problem. "Hollow clause" is quite new for me :D

EngFan

@userr2684291 : thanks, I would also like to know if both the sentences are grammatical .

userr2684291

14:03

@EngFan Yeah.

@EngFan But it's the invite that's weird there.

A coffee means "a cup of coffee".

user178049

@AraucariaMan I think it's a matter of terminology. LSGSWE calls such construction an object-to-subject raising

Given example: They're hard to get that might be rephrased to It's hard to get them

EngFan

14:22

@userr2684291 : ok , thanks.

Araucaria Man

0

A: What is a modal, really?

In modern grammar, modal verbs are a grammatical category of verb. They are a subcategory of the auxiliary verbs. There are nine modal auxiliary verbs in English: CAN, COULD, SHALL, SHOULD, WILL, WOULD, MAY, MIGHT and MUST. Modal verbs are different from other auxiliary verbs like BE HAVE and ...

@user178049 That's a different type of construction. Raising verbs are different from tough constructions or control verbs :) [Although they have some similarities]. They aren't the same at all when you look at them closely though ...

@M.A.R. I did an answer specially for you ;)

user178049

@AraucariaMan I'll take my time learning it tonight. Btw, relativizer cannot be omitted here right?ell.stackexchange.com/q/126991/35026

Araucaria Man

@user178049 That's right. We must leave it in in standard English. Although in some dialects you could leave it out.!

Gotta fly folks! Ciao!

user178049

@AraucariaMan Thanks :D

CowperKettle

14:41

> An additional 3 OptiFilter filters were used. (In a deviations table)

I wonder if there's a way to rephrase this, to stress that these 3 filters were "superfluous", not part of the plan.

userr2684291

@CowperKettle Extra?

CowperKettle

14:57

@userr2684291 yes, nailed it!

Thank you

Brock

15:16

@CowperKettle : What would you say to this - Suppose the govt has launched a scheme named X and I'm making a sentence like this - According to this scheme a farmer will get monetary benefits if 'a crop' fails. Vs According to this scheme a farmer will get monetary benefits if 'crops' fail. Is there any difference in meaning ? In the former sentence does 'a crop' mean one crop ?

userr2684291

It does. I would say if their crop(s) fail.

Hm, crop(s) fail(s)?

@Brock A crop means one crop in that sentence, that's why I couldn't tell you whether it's a generic noun phrase. I don't know whether in the case the singular aspect is emphasized, we're talking about generic nouns. It's definitely generic in a sense that it's any of the crops.

Brock

What's the difference between 'any of the crops' or 'one crop' ?

@userr2684291

userr2684291

@Brock One means "1", as in, the first positive integer. One crop, as opposed to two crops. It, however, implies any of the crops. Any [of them] means "regardless of which one [of them] that may be".

@Brock Well, that is if I'm looking at it strictly, and from a more technical POV.

V.V.

15:33

"as payment for services rendered on the 16th ult. " @userr2684291, what's the last word?

Brock

@userr2684291 So you mean to say 'a crop' means any one crop out of the many regardless of which one it is. Did i get it right ?

userr2684291

@Brock Yup.

@V.V. Hm.

@V.V. It's obviously an abbreviation, and I think it stands for ultimate [something].

V.V.

I have never seen it before.

Brock

@userr2684291 : So is 'a crop' a generic noun or not ?

You said 'Its definitely generic in a sense that it's any of the crops' What does this statement mean ?

userr2684291

@V.V. I've seen it, but couldn't remember. en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ultimo labels it as dated.

And I'll have prolly forgotten it by the next week.

V.V.

15:39

Thank you.

It's. just what I need.

Latin.

userr2684291

You're welcome.

@Brock Do one and by implication any entail generic?

@Brock What's the definition of a generic noun phrase?

From Google: "A generic noun phrase is a noun phrase that does not refer to a specific (set of) individual(s), but rather to a kind or class of individuals."

Brock

16:54

@DamkerngT. U there ?

Damkerng T.

17:22

@Brock Yes?

Brock

17:46

@DamkerngT. Sorry for the trouble

What would you say to this - Suppose the govt has launched a scheme named X and I'm making a sentence like this - According to this scheme a farmer will get monetary benefits if 'a crop' fails. Vs According to this scheme a farmer will get monetary benefits if 'crops' fail. Is there any difference in meaning ? In the former sentence does 'a crop' mean one crop ?

My question is does 'a crop' means one crop ?

V.V.

I would say "the crop"

And you, Dam?

Brock

@V.V. So does 'the crop' mean one crop ?

V.V.

Yes.

Do you have several crops a year?

A sentence should have sense.

Damkerng T.

18:04

@Brock A crop is fine, and it'd make more sense in this case, considering that it's about a crop of a farmer.

If you change it to when crops fail but still uses a farmer, it'll make me wonder what if only one crop fails? Will it fulfill the condition?

Or does it have to be at least two crops fail first before the said farmer will get the compensation?

Brock

I asked this similar question on the main Q&A site and one of the members said that both carry the same meaning..both essentially means 'any crop'

How correct is this ?

@DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

Well, they both roughly mean any crop(s), but the plural alternative doesn't sound as good as the singular alternative in this case, IMO.

It's like telling a student to raise their hand vs. their hands.

Hands will flow better with students, but with a student, hand is better.

Did you tell them the whole context?

(A student raising their hand and a student raising their hands will give us two different pictures!)

M.A.R.

@AraucariaMan (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

I thought that post was a failure

Brock

A child needs care. Here 'a child' means any child or all child ?

@DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

What's the difference between any and all?

Note that any, all, and a are three different words anyway.

Brock

18:17

Basically that was my question..What's the difference between any and all ?

Damkerng T.

Hmm... I suppose these words are too basic.

Meaning, it's better to learn them by using a bilingual dictionary.

It's like I, you, is, are, in, to, from, ... and so on.

You need to know their main senses before using English anyway.

When you're more fluent or proficient in English, you'll get more secondary senses of these words automatically.

But to elaborate or to make a list of all possible differences of all possible senses between two words, that's what dictionaries are for.

Brock

You see, let's take the eg again - According to this scheme a farmer will get monetary benefits if 'a crop' fails. If i replace 'a crop' with 'any crop' then it's sounds perfectly okay

Damkerng T.

Hmm...

Brock

But if i replace 'a crop' with one crop.. then it certainly gives a different meaning

Why is it so ?

Damkerng T.

I'd recommend against that. Don't try to learn a new word by substitution.

> John is a great man.

> He is a great man.

M.A.R.

18:23

@Brock But different meaning

Damkerng T.

Does John mean he?

He is a great man sounds perfectly okay, too, right?

But he doesn't mean John and John doesn't mean he, right?

(Except for in this sentence, where he refers to John.)

Brock

Okay

Btw in the sentence where i used 'a crop' here 'a crop' means one crop or more than one crop ?

Damkerng T.

Learning by substitution mostly works, loosely, but not definitively.

@Brock A is one, not more than one.

But because a generic crop can refer to any crop, any single crop, any one crop, it may give you the feeling that it's more than one crop.

Brock

@DamkerngT. If that's the case then both my sentences where i used 'a crop' and 'crops' should have different meaning

Damkerng T.

If you read what I wrote above, you'd've seen that they're different.

V.V.

18:28

He is right. "a"is "one" and "any","every ". quantity plus quality

Brock

So 'crops' in my example a generic noun ?

Damkerng T.

You wrote it, you should know its meaning. :-)

Brock

So 'a crop' in my example a generic noun ?

Damkerng T.

No one else can know better, because it's your sentence. :-)

Did you want it to be generic?

Brock

Well that's not my sentence..I read that in a book

M.A.R.

18:31

@Brock Don't add space before punctuation marks please

Damkerng T.

1

A: Singular Vs plural generic noun case

"A farmer will get monetary benefits if crops fail" technically means that more than one crop must fail for any given farmer to get benefits. Depending on context, that might mean that the farmer must be growing multiple crops, and at least two of these must fail for him to get benefits, or it mi...

FWIW, I agree with the answer. But!

You have to read the answer carefully.

Brock

I guess i didn't understand the answer. Would you plz explain me in simpler terms

Damkerng T.

What does he mean when he says "crops fail" technically, when he says sometimes used as a collective noun, when he says English speakers are often loose, why he says you need to be rigorous? and so on.

@Brock Try first. :-)

Tell us what you think after reading the answer.

25 mins ago, by Brock

I asked this similar question on the main Q&A site and one of the members said that both carry the same meaning..both essentially means 'any crop'

See, almost half an hour ago, you still seemed to understand the answer pretty well.

Brock

Ok let's just accept both mean the same..But then i see the difference between singular and plural

Damkerng T.

But they don't really mean the same.

Brock

18:36

One is 'a crop' and the other is 'crops'

M.A.R.

@Brock The problem here is there's only so much to learn, and you really don't know how much you want to learn

Brock

@DamkerngT. You say they don't mean the same, then what is the difference ?

Damkerng T.

In the answer:

> Depending on context, that might mean that the farmer must be growing multiple crops, and at least two of these must fail for him to get benefits, or it might mean that if multiple crops fail, than a farmer who was growing any of these crops could get benefits.

See, his answer is more or less the same as my comment in here.

M.A.R.

8 mins ago, by M.A.R.

@Brock Don't add space before punctuation marks please

You should say "difference?" NOT "difference ?"

Damkerng T.

FWIW, I said they don't really mean the same, not they don't mean the same.

They're more or less the same, but they aren't the same.

If you want to learn English at this level of detail, you've got to be careful with every word.

But if you don't want to be at this level of detail, and just want to get the gist of it, I have a better approach...

The approach is...

Brock

18:42

Okay i guess i need time to think over what you people have said

Damkerng T.

"You've got to feel English."

Brock

Sure

A child needs help. Vs Children need help

Damkerng T.

You can't feel English until you've read and listened to million upon million of words.

M.A.R.

Help! I'm feeling English! It tickles bad

Damkerng T.

And every time you try to pinpoint every minute detail in every word in every sentence, it'll steal your time from "feeling" English.

@M.A.R. Aww... English likes you. :D

See, a lumper like me would recommend "feeling" English. :-)

Brock

18:47

@DamkerngT. In the sentence where i used 'a crop' is it right to say that it means 'any one out the the many crops'?

Damkerng T.

Very important! :D

@Brock Well, I think you could say that.

But any one out (of) many crops is just weird.

(FWIW, many crops and crops aren't exactly the same, either!)

Perhaps it'd be better to just let it go, focus on reading/understanding, rather than trying to get the exact meaning through substitution.

The more you read, the more you can feel it, I guarantee.

BTW, what grammar book do you use?

Brock

I'm just unable to read now..More I'm reading the more I'm getting confused. Whenever i see a singular noun or a plural I start thinking whether it meant one or more than one or any ?

I'm confused like hell

Wren n Martin

Damkerng T.

If your grammar book is not a very bad one, it should get the basic ideas right. So, if you feel like-- oh!

Hmm...

I'm not sure about Wren and Martin's.

Let's see...

Brock

Btw could you throw some light on generic nouns

In my example according to you whether 'a crop' is a generic noun?

Damkerng T.

Hmm... it's a semi-generic noun, perhaps. :-)

Don't be too serious about the technical term. The more important thing is, do you have the right idea when you read it?

What's the sentence, again?

> According to this scheme a farmer will get monetary benefits if a crop fails.

How do you understand this sentence?

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