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Man_From_India

02:20

A: What does "all" in "It all started last night" mean?

It all started last night. In here all is a Quantificational Adjunct. Reason? If we insert an auxiliary verb, like an adjunct it preferably follows the auxiliary verb. It had all started last night. we can replace it with any other Noun Phrase (NP). The pain all started las...

@snailplane I know all is an adjunct there. That is it's function. But word class? Is it an adverb or a determinative?

ColleenV

03:09

@V.V. It really depends on what you're trying to say whether you choose have or had in that sentence. "You should have told him that I have some money." implies you're talking about the money you have right now. "You should have told him that I had some money." implies you're talking about money you had at the time "you" should have told "him" that you had it. Most people would understand you from the context without caring too much whether you used have or had I think.

but I live in the Southern US - most of our speech is very informal.

Anonymous

@Man_From_India In H&P's theoretical framework, the universal quantifier all is a determinative functioning as a fused-head partitive Determiner (it is both determiner and head of the NP), essentially constituting a single-word phrase which functions as a quantificational Adjunct.

Anonymous

That's when all is a quantificational Adjunct, anyway.

Anonymous

As in They all wanted to eat cake.

Anonymous

So your question is, is that the same all in It all started last night, right?

Anonymous

Or is it an adverb.

Anonymous

03:13

And I think you're right.

Anonymous

BillJ says:

Anonymous

I take "it all" to be a compound pronoun: the two parts are inseparable, and function as subject of the sentence. The meaning can be glossed as "the problem in its entirety started last night". — BillJ Jan 25 at 9:14

Anonymous

But you correctly point out that it is not inseparable:

Anonymous

> It had all started last night.

Anonymous

I think that it's a bit of a stereotyped phrase, though, so it'll often occur exactly as It all started . . .

Anonymous

03:15

That doesn't mean it's a compound, exactly, but it's worth noting that the phrase is often used exactly in that manner.

Anonymous

("Phrase" here in the non-linguistic sense, really "string" as in a series of words following one another, rather than a constituent.)

Anonymous

I think it's worth mentioning the "stereotyped phrase" aspect. I imagine that when speakers hear "It all started . . ." they associate it with all the other times they've heard those words.

V.V.

@ColleenV, thank you very much.

Morning all!

Man_From_India

03:41

@snailplane thank you.

CowperKettle

04:21

Word of the Day: taxometric analysis

CowperKettle

05:01

> They write that one should avoid strenuous activity for 48 hours after a lumbar puncture, and it's nearing 240 hours for me, so I'll try some jogging in the park.

do we use a here?

9 hours later…

CowperKettle

14:06

I wonder if you know exactly why the order of vowels is I, A, O, @snailplane

2 hours later…

Man_From_India

16:32

A: Gerund Phrases after adjectives

It's difficult being an architect. Here, being an architect is a Gerund-Participle clause. It's a non-finite clause. And this non-finite clause is the complement of the adjective - difficult. being an architect is not a phrase, it's a clause. It has it's own verb, object and an implicit su...

CowperKettle

> Reading is such a modern cultural invention that there is no specific area in the brain dedicated to it. Scientists have found that learning to read as an adult reconfigures evolutionarily ancient brain structures hitherto assigned to different skills. These findings were obtained in a large-scale study in India in which completely illiterate women learned how to read and write for six months.

sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170524140721.htm

Man_From_India

17:01

> It's different being an architect.

Is being an architect an extraposed subject, or the complement of the adjective difficult? @snailplane

How to distinguish them?

1 hour later…

userr2684291

18:19

Hello.

What's the difference between ineffectual and uneffective?

Catija

I don't know that "uneffective" is really a common word... usually we would say "ineffective".

ColleenV

@Catija I don't think uneffective is a valid word at all, at least not according to my go-to dictionaries.

Catija

@ColleenV It shows up in a couple of places, so I think at the outside it could be considered a "non-standard variant".

ColleenV

@CowperKettle That's really interesting. I seem to remember some poetry that reversed the typical order for effect ( the tock-ticking of the clock clicking or something like that) but I can't find it now

@Catija I think ineffectual is also not common - ineffective like you've already mentioned, or "doesn't work" would be more common in every day language. I'd have to do some research to actually support that with evidence though :)

Catija

@ColleenV Sure. The examples I see in dictionaries seem to lean towards "an ineffective teacher". :P

userr2684291

18:29

@ColleenV It's in the OED.

I actually heard it in a documentary.

Let me see if I can find it again.

Catija

@userr2684291 Meaning someone was speaking? Many, many prefix errors occur in spoken language.

userr2684291

@Catija I agree, but this was read from a script, it had a narrator.

Catija

Narrators aren't perfect.

ColleenV

@userr2684291 Which one? "uneffective" or "ineffectual"? Ineffectual is definitely a word, but I think ineffective is a lot more commonplace.

userr2684291

Both.

I think the narrator/scriptwriter chose it because they didn't want to repeat themselves.

ColleenV

18:37

I think there is a slight difference between ineffectual and ineffective, and either would be OK in most contexts, but uneffective would jump out as a mistake to me.

Ineffectual has more of a sense of "too weak to achieve something" and ineffective is just "didn't have an effect"

"The drug proved ineffective as a cure for cancer, but was excellent at controlling nausea." vs "The steering committee is completely ineffectual; it's been three years since anything has been done."

userr2684291

18:53

Alright, thank you very much. I'm unable to find the documentary at the moment, though.

EngFan

19:25

Hello!

userr2684291

Hey.

EngFan

I want to check the status of an order vs i would like to check the status of an order

is there any difference ?

Catija

19:47

One is more active and one is more passive?

They're both effectively the same.

EngFan

which one seems to be polite ?

Catija

... meaning, "want to" might come off as a bit pushy and "would like" is more polite but neither are smack-you-upside-the-head rude.

EngFan

so do you mean it doesn't really make any difference ?

Catija

If you really want to be polite, you might consider the second one but they are not significantly different in politeness. To be honest, I think that a lot of non-native speakers get a bit over concerned with the level of politeness when using would/want/need/may etc...

If you use a verb to describe your contact, you don't even need either "I'm calling to check on the status of an order. Can you please help me with that?

userr2684291

@Catija Oh my, you used can instead of could, and please isn't at the end of the sentence.

Catija

20:03

Please doesn't need to be at the end of a sentence.

Or are you being sarcastic?

userr2684291

@Catija The whole thing is, but no, it's part of the same advice – i.e., some people say you should put it at the end, and I agree it sounds the most polite.

dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/functions/… Have a look at the first table.

Catija

I don't think about it much but when I do, I think it sounds better in the middle... perhaps due to too many kids who add it as an afterthought rather than actually meaning it.

I think those must be based on British English... As an American English speaker, I don't agree with most of what's said there...

> When talking to adults, children often use please in front position to adults when making a request or asking for permission.

This sounds silly to me.

userr2684291

That's interesting.

3 hours later…

Anonymous

23:35

@CowperKettle Descending order of F2 (see Ross's World Order p.71)