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15:52
Word of the day: indiction
An indiction is any of the years in a 15-year cycle used to date medieval documents throughout Europe, both East and West. Each year of a cycle was numbered: first indiction, second indiction, etc. However, the cycles were not numbered, thus other information is needed to identify the specific year. When the term began to be used, it referred only to the full cycle, and individual years were referred to as being Year 1 of the indiction, Year 2 of the indiction, etc. But usage changed, and it gradually became common to talk of the 1st indiction, the 2nd indiction, and so on. This can be confusing...
 
1 hour later…
17:00
Word of the Day: hyperlocal
Hyperlocal connotes information oriented around a well-defined community with its primary focus directed toward the concerns of the population in that community. The term can be used as a noun in isolation or as a modifier of some other term (e.g. news). When used in isolation it refers to the emergent ecology of data (including textual content), aggregators, publication mechanism and user interactions and behaviors which centre on a resident of a location and the business of being a resident. More recently, the term hyperlocal has become synonymous with the combined use of applications on mobile...
 
2 hours later…
Anonymous
19:06
Good noon, @CowperKettle! :-)
Still no word from Damkerng?
Anonymous
20:05
Nope. :-(
Anonymous
I can only hope that he's doing well wherever he is.
20:25
Is litterbug a common word?
Anonymous
20:52
Not common, but common enough that I'd expect everyone to know it.
21:07
Hey @snailplane :D
Right, thanks.
Hello every one!!
what dose this expression mean the floor rushing underneath my feet youtu.be/yMHUlDuCxjo?t=3m2s
*does
Hello @snailplane blue square is back!
21:29
Hi!
Is there anyone who can help me with direct and indirect speech?
You can try asking.
Thanks,
Jennifer said, “What will you do when you leave school?”

A. Jennifer asked someone what she would do when she would leave school
B. Jennifer said what she will do when she leaves school
C. Jennifer asked me what you would do when you left school.
D. Jennifer asked her what she will do when she would leave school.
A.
Wait, where did you get this question from?
It doesn't seem very well written.
It is from Indian government competition exam
I agree but still we have to give the answer.
A then.
21:34
I agree but why not C.
Because we don't know who Jennifer is talking to!
Okay. But I think we should not use would twice.
What do you say?
I think the question is not well written.
I agree. So your final answer is A, right?
Yes. There is no point thinking more about this question, because it is not well written. =D
21:36
Thanks. Have a nice day.
21:54
@user62015 I think C is right.
Are you sure?
I am confused between A and C.
C is weird but we can force a context in which it'd be okay.
Okay.
And what about A?
21:58
C is grammatically wrong, anyway. So it's not the correct answer.
Thanks.
If C were to be correct, that she was asking "me" this, it would say "Jennifer asked me what I would do when I left school.
That doesn't mean it's grammatically wrong.
It's wrong for the situation.
Maybe she was asking some kind of weird hypothetical.
It's the only grammatical option, in fact, I think.
21:59
So I think I should go with A.
I agree.
If it said Jennifer said, “What will s/he do when s/he leaves school?” Then C might be correct. As is, it's not correct.
Thanks.
Hi@Catija I have a question about written English, if you can help me?
Well, A looks ungrammatical, so C is right.
Yes as he used would twice, right? @userr2684291
Yeah, that's what I think makes it ungrammatical.
22:07
So C looks good?
What if the person she asked had been a medium for (communicating with) dead people, and now you're just reporting this to the said dead person (you)?
Not sure.
Yeah, you can never be too sure.
@Catija Would that make sense?
Haha.
So what should I do?
Circle the second option to throw them all off, as in that Men in Black movie.
22:13
You need to look at these questions from the point of view of the best answer. The "correct" answer is not an option - possibly because this is a crappy test. The correct answer is "Jennifer asked someone what they would do when they leave school". The important thing is converting the direct quote to reported speech... C, in that sense, is completely wrong.
@user62015 You don't know what the actual answer is?
Some say A and some say C
But most of them say A
"Some" is not the test writers... what do the authors of the test say is the correct answer?
Hello @Catija your baby has grown very big since the last time I saw, LOL.
Actually my medium explanation is losing points, but we can assume the dead have schools and everything. (Now everything's all right with the weather.)
It was asked in 2012 and when I check the books so they have the different answer.
22:15
@user62015 Are you certain that you transcribed the question precisely?
Yes.
I am sure.
What kind of competition is this?
@user62015 All the options would generally be considered wrong, C is the only grammatical one. What you should do is not waste time on this crap.
ahahha I agree but in India we have to solve these types of questions to get a government job,
@user62015 It's possible that one of the answers may be more correct in InE... Since I am a native English speaker of AmE, there may be rules in InE that I am unaware of.
22:19
I am not so sure about the grammaticality of each of the 4 options.
... also, lots of people in InE say things in a way no native AmE or BrE or AuE would say.
I am not an expert in grammar, but tenses and modals are not as straightforward as they seem.
But I think I will still choose A in an exam. =D
I agree but when we speak English we speak normal and other people speak in other counties but when we talk about competition exams then we have to face these types of questions. I think government has to ask to make the paper hard. I hope you understand my point.
I agree with Catija that if I were to write the answer, I would write "Jennifer asked someone what they would do when they leave school"
@user62015 Four bad answers isn't "hard", it is just wrong.
22:23
I think to make the students confused.
I agree.
It's just a question, lol, won't affect your marks too much!
Thanks everyone for your help and time. Have a nice time.
@WillHunting Why not "Jennifer asked someone what they will do when they leave school" or "...what they would do when they left school"? I don't think you can backshift one part and leave the other unbackshifted.
@userr2684291 Sorry, I think you are right, I would write "Jennifer asked someone what they will do when they leave school"
Just make the minimal changes to the original form.
In fact, we can even say Jennifer didn't ask anyone but was merely talking to herself, LOL.
22:31
Which is why this question should not be asked in the first place, LOL.
I wouldn't know about that.
What I mean is, it's really weird that the setter of the question set it.
How so?
It looks rather ordinary to me.
Because none of the 4 options looks really appropriate?
I'm not sure you understand the purpose of these kinds of question.
22:36
I don't. WHat is the purpose?
It certainly isn't to try to expound on all possible scenarios, but to elicit the examinee's grasp of the subject (reported speech and backshift).
You said the question shouldn't be asked because Jennifer could've been talking to herself.
We can conclude all kinds of things from that sentence, of course, and what the test elicits are grammatical conclusions.
SO many users here use user XXXX for username, weird!
Oh well, I don't know, I am not a grammarian. =D
I am just using my intuition when I think about these things.
@WillHunting It's the default username pattern SO/SE assigns to you once you register or whatever, unless you log in with Facebook or some such, I think.
@userr2684291 Yeah, but I would think most people would change it to a more readable thing.
Some people just can't be bothered and/or are unimaginative.
(I'm unimaginative.)
22:44
OK. Anyway, why are you here on ELL? For fun?
To learn English!
I see. I usually don't come to this room. I just popped in to say hi to some old friends. =D
That's very nice of you; I don't think I've been coming here a long time, maybe a year or so.
Did you and me ever talk anywhere before today?
I was wondering whether you know me from somewhere, lol.
Could be, but I don't believe we've met before.
You never know, y'know?
Haha.
22:49
Yeah I have talked to so many people on SE over years I wouldn't know, lol.
Do you say hit someone in the back of the head or at or on or to? When you put your hand on someone else's, what are other verbs to use but place or put? What about set or sit, or would the latter only be used with detachable/detached objects?
WHoa, many questions, lol.
I am afraid I am too tired to think of my answers now, lol. Maybe someone else will respond.
OK, bye!
Good bye.
Looks like in and on are leading re the first question, and sit could be okay, but put and place are in the lead.
Why I asked the first is because I saw the phrase knock someone over their head, or at least I paid extra attention to the preposition, so I tried making sentences of my own involving such actions.

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