Language Overflow

CowperKettle

01:59

@snailplane nice

sprouting bookmarks

I saw nice magnetic bookmarks a week ago in a bookstore

Anonymous

02:19

@CowperKettle Magnetic bookmarks? So you can keep your place on the fridge?

Anonymous

2

A: Is a hamburger considered a sandwich?

There is a more abstract meta-analysis of features to help in determining what you want the definition of sandwich to be, in order to judge if hamburger fits it analytically. For a given food preparation, there are too properties, structural and contents, and each can have three values, traditio...

CowperKettle

04:24

@snailplane No, the bookmark kind of 'hugs' the page from both sides, because the bookmark is a very thin magnetized strip. It clasps the page from both sides

Magisch

06:40

Hey

@snailplane Not sure if that's deserving of a flag but there is a group of users (1,2 , 3) that exclusively post answers with external links to a specific website, which appears spammish. Probably in a misinformed bid to raise their SEO presence, but the answers themselves don't seem to be off topic.

The topic came up in the smoke detector workroom this morning after a more spammish post involving the same website got reported. Here's a listing of all recorded occurences of the website that popped up in SD.

Anonymous

08:10

Thanks for pointing that out.

CowperKettle

08:44

Body types men like / body types women like

Damkerng T.

09:13

@snailplane They remind me of either snakes, or grass :)

iamRR

11:57

I have come to the conclusion that if the singular is used then it can have two conditions :- First, it might refer to that one unspecified thing.

Second, it might refer to that thing in general. And if plural is used then it can have one condition i.e; it refers to that thing in general.

For example :- Taking the previous example; "This initiative tries to help a student realise his/her potential".

I interpret it like this : Either it refers to one student (one unspecified student) or it might refer to all students in general.

So this sentence is bit ambiguous. But if i use 'students' then it will mean that it refers to all students in general.

So if I intend to say all students in general then it's always a safe bet to use plural because it may not have that ambiguity which the singular noun has.

And even though the singular (a student) in this example refers to all students in general but still it has some slight possibility that it might refer to just one unspecified student

which I have in my mind at the time of utterence of that sentence. .

Therefore to be on the safer side it's always unambiguous to use plural if i want to infer all students in general.

Let's take another example - Suppose someone asks me what does the bank do. I reply :- a) Banks provide financial services.

Here since I used plural (services) therefore it means all financial services in general.

Now suppose I use b) Banks provide a financial service.

In this sentence I used singular (service) so it has some ambiguity involved here i.e; this sentence might mean one unspecified financial service.

So if I intend to mean financial services in general then the sentence b) where a singular is mentioned should not be used because it could mean that I'm referring to an unspecified financial service which obviously I didn't intend to say.

Therefore, again plural is a safe bet to mean financial services in general. Nevertheless, context is everything and whatever conclusion I have just written is not a rule but just a guideline which I could keep in my mind.

@DamkerngT. @userr2684291 - What do you think ? Did I get somewhat right?

userr2684291

TL;DR. :>

@iamRR The plural can refer to unspecified, non-generic things as well. I don't know whether I've paid enough attention to that.

I think... well, I don't see why not.

iamRR

@userr2684291 Indeed

@userr2684291 : So, is my conclusion correct to some extent ?

userr2684291

12:13

@iamRR Listen, in the right context, as I explained, you might choose one or the other, and neither option will be ambiguous.

iamRR

@userr2684291 - Okay! What do you think about the bank example. "Banks provide a financial service". Here does it refer to an unspecified financial service or does it refer to all financial services in general ?

What i think is, if I want to say financial services in general then i guess i should not use singular because it looks ambiguous to me

userr2684291

12:28

@iamRR Hm. I take this one as singular.

@iamRR As though all the banks provide this (one) service.

iamRR

You mean to say that 'a financial service' in the bank example does not refer to all financial services in general. Is that what you saying?

@userr2684291

userr2684291

@iamRR Yes. I take it as though you can't even have the plural, financial services.

iamRR

So to refer to all financial services in general I have to use plural in this case. Right?

@userr2684291

userr2684291

@iamRR Yes.

But this one is difficult for me.

To be sure, I'd use the plural. The interpretation of the singular is difficult for me.

iamRR

12:47

@userr2684291 Exactly! That's what I meant. Using the singular to refer to all financial services in general seems kind of ambiguous to me. That's why i mentioned that it's a safe bet to use plural if i want to mean all services in general. That's exactly i wrote in the conclusion phrase.

@userr2684291

userr2684291

@iamRR I agree.

@iamRR I'm not sure about this example because I don't really know how to interpret financial service. Is it used collectively, as in, the bank as a whole provides it, or is it used even more collectively, as in, there's only one financial service in the whole world (but maybe it would say the service, not a service, then), or does it mean a single financial service, e.g., one instance of transferring money?

iamRR

Suppose I have a retail outlet of leather belts and someone asks me what do you do? I reply - I sell leather belts. Vs I sell a leather belt. Does the latter refer to all leather belts in general ? I'm pretty sure about the former one that the plural here in this case refers to all leather belts in general. What do you think about the singular one?

@userr2684291

userr2684291

@iamRR I would take it as "one single belt", nothing generic.

iamRR

Okay!

userr2684291

@iamRR The plural refers to belts in general, obviously.

@iamRR Going back to the bank example, I would now say that Banks provide a financial service. means that each bank provides its own service. It doesn't say whether each bank provides more than one service, though. Banks provide financial services. could be rephrased as A bank provides a financial service.

Banks provide financial services. is better because we have to take into account that banks can provide more than one service.

More than one financial service, to be precise.

But yeah, seeing that I'm not sure what a financial service means, haha, don't take this as the absolute truth.

iamRR

13:03

@userr2684291 - In the yesterday's example - "This initiative tries to help a student realise his/her potential". Suppose I want to refer to just one student (an unspecified student) and not to all students in general then is it correct to say this sentence or does this sentence always mean all students in general ?

@userr2684291

About the bank example - It's clear now. Thanks!

userr2684291

@iamRR It can refer to just one student.

It's unlikely, but there you go.

@iamRR The bank example isn't really clear to me, so I don't know how it's clear to you, but I hope you understand why it's difficult to grasp. In my native language I wouldn't know whether to use the singular or the plural either.

C is OK, although not the most common way of phrasing it. A is not correct, because that's not how you indicate purpose in English; it needs a conjoining phrase like "so as not to" or "so that I wouldn't". — stangdon 2 hours ago

Can't we say: I did it to make him happy. without so as to or in order to, etc.?

From COCA: The kids did it to make a point.

iamRR

13:23

@userr2684291 - In the initiative example as you say that 'a student' can mean just one student also (Yeah you are right it is quite unlikely that it means just one student). So if it refers to one student then does it extend to all students or not ?

userr2684291

@iamRR Yes, I would interpret that noun as a generic one first.

Damkerng T.

@iamRR I feel like your attempt is overly mechanical. (I haven't read everything you wrote up there, BTW.)

I think you're getting close to the idea, but don't forget that a is nothing else but the indefinite article of English.

Attempting to equate financial services to "all financial services" is not a good idea, IMHO.

Sometimes it's like that; sometimes it isn't.

Word of the Day: precipitous

3

userr2684291

@DamkerngT. That one is very difficult for me. I think that business-speak ruined the noun service for me.

CowperKettle

13:53

Виступали козаченьки - ukrainian cossack song

►

Found another great folk song

It's quite precipitous

Battle of Berestechko

The Battle of Berestechko (Polish: Bitwa pod Beresteczkiem; Ukrainian: Берестецька битва, Битва під Берестечком) was fought between the Ukrainian Cossacks, led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, aided by their Crimean Tatar allies, and a Polish army under King John II Casimir. It was a battle of a Cossack rebellion in Ukraine that took place in the years 1648–1657 after the expiration of a two-year truce. Fought from 28 to 30 June 1651, the battle took place in the province of Volhynia, on the hilly plain south of the Styr River. The Polish camp was on the river opposite Berestechko and faced south...

About this battle

Sawasdee khrap

M.A.R.

Sawasdee good sir

@DamkerngT. Meaning, it precipitates?

@userr2684291 How can I be of service?

CowperKettle

14:10

"Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require."

One of the most beautiful sonnets.

Sonnet 57

> Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you.
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour
When you have bid your servant once adieu;
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,
But like a sad slave, stay and think of nought,
Save, where you are how happy you make those.

> So true a fool is love that in your will
Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.

I know it by heart

Araucaria Man

15:35

0

A: Adjectives after noun: " in a layer high"

We can use preposition phrases to postmodify noun phrases. In the Original Poster's example, the verb find takes a Locative Complement the essential core of which is in a layer. This Locative Complement explains the location of the oxygen. Now within this preposition phrase there is the noun p...

EngFan

Hello everyone !!

EngFan

16:35

Does this sentence make sense I didn't quite understand it ?

does it mean i didn't completely understand it

Cardinal

Word of the day: grassroots

I liked that.

EngFan

@Cardinal : is it grass roots (or) grassroots ?

Cardinal

@EngFan grassroots which means ordinary people in a society

EngFan

hmm

thanks

Cardinal

@EngFan UW.

@EngFan It makes sense to me, but I am not a native.

@EngFan By the way, why do you want to use that "adverb"?

EngFan

16:46

@Cardinal : neither am I :-)

I once read it ...

so wanted to know what it actually mean

Cardinal

nod

yubraj

17:03

Hi...

Everyone! How are you

What is the correct way of commanding students in assembly conduction, "step out from your line and come front" "or step of your line and come front" which one is the correct one?

Step out from or step of ?

CowperKettle

> The problems arise when you try to take it too literally. It is way of working out structures - no more than that.

Shouldn't it be it is a way of?

chemguide.co.uk/atoms/properties/3d4sproblem.html#top

I mean, "way" is a count noun

iamRR

17:49

I hate bananas Vs i hate a banana. What's the difference between the two?

Or do they mean the same?

@DamkerngT.

Anonymous

18:02

@iamRR Nope.

Anonymous

I hate bananas means that you hate bananas in general.

Anonymous

I hate a banana means that there is one particular banana you hate.

Anonymous

I hate bananas probably means that you don't like the flavor of bananas, although it could be any kind of hate. This is a natural sounding English sentence, and people say sentences like this one fairly often.

M.A.R.

I love bananas

Anonymous

I hate a banana is a very unusual sentence. People don't express their hatred for individual bananas very often. It sounds like there's a banana which personally offended you, and now you're holding a grudge. This is silly, and so the sentence sounds silly.

M.A.R.

18:04

I love going bananas as well

Anonymous

People would not say I hate a banana very often. Probably not ever ;-)

M.A.R.

I love going a banana O.O

Anonymous

Whoops, you broke the idiom!

Anonymous

You could fix it with a little duct tape, maybe.

M.A.R.

Nah, I love breaking things

Or breaking a thing?

The only thing I love more than confusing people is confusing a person

\o @Snail

Anonymous

18:50

Morning :-)

EngFan

hi

userr2684291

G'day.

M.A.R.

@EngFan hi

userr2684291

@M.A.R. Hello.

EngFan

@M.A.R. : hey ..

M.A.R.

18:51

@userr2684291 <some-fancy-innovative-hat-gesture>

EngFan

is there a phrase for trying to control laugh

userr2684291

@M.A.R. Hat in hand? (:

M.A.R.

@userr2684291 That's not innovative ಠ_ಠ

I will NEVER give in to you

userr2684291

@M.A.R. It's a nice word.

M.A.R.

@userr2684291 Not when it's me doing it to you

@EngFan trying hard not to laugh is idiomatic and natural

EngFan

18:55

@M.A.R. : hmm..

thanks

M.A.R.

Anytime

userr2684291

@EngFan Trying hard to hold back laughter is a good one, I think.

When I look at my last reply, it appears as though the letters are progressively more oblique towards the end of the italics.

userr2684291

19:11

Sry nvr hrd uv tuple b4. — user6951 May 7 '15 at 21:32

M.A.R.

@userr2684291 that's pazzo

@Dam can confirm

userr2684291

@M.A.R. Is that supposed to mean something?

M.A.R.

@userr2684291 He flared up on the site a year and a half ago

After, hmm, maybe a meta drama

I tend to think he's the same as Alan Carmack

userr2684291

Ah, spicy.

Anonymous

19:24

Could be of interest to English language learners.

Araucaria Man

@snailplane Need your help! What do you think (see discussion under here)

1

A: Adjectives after noun: " in a layer high"

We can use preposition phrases to postmodify noun phrases. In the Original Poster's example, the verb find takes a Locative Complement the essential core of which is in a layer. This Locative Complement explains the location of the oxygen. Now within this preposition phrase there is the noun p...

?

Anonymous

I'm here, I'm just thinking before I respond.

Anonymous

How about distinguishing an AdjP from an PP by seeing if it can occur as a complement of become?

Anonymous

Doesn't seem like an AdjP.

Anonymous

I think your original analysis was right.

EngFan

19:49

why do we say gentle reminder ?

Araucaria Man

20:53

@snailplane Thanks. I'm thinking now!

Catija

21:06

@EngFan Do we? If I had to guess it's because they're trying to not be considered annoying... and saying that just makes it more obsequious to me.

SinNombre SinApellido

Hi, is somebody here?

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