Language Overflow

Qàtrè

00:51

Hello. I'm "Qàtrè", a transwoman from Iran. I can speak English a bit, but I would like to learn it more and better.

Cardinal

@Qàtrè Hello Qatre. Nice to meet you.

o/

Qàtrè

@Cardinal nice to meet you too :-)

Cardinal

@Qàtrè What are you up to?

I haven't been around for a while. I decided to put more effort into improving my English.

Hence, I decided to be more active on Ell.

It helped a lot when I started learning English.

I am sure it would help you as well.

Qàtrè

@Cardinal Nowadays I don't do anything except staying at home, learning languages, reading books and watching movies.

Cardinal

Nice.

Are you reading any specific books or a specific sort of genre?

Any movie suggestions?

Qàtrè

00:58

@Cardinal Yes, I found this website useful. I am also a member of French and Esperanto channels of StackExchange. But some days ago, 2-3 people in the French channel disturbed me when I was asking questions about that language. Finally somebody advised me to come here and ask my questions in chatrooms. That's why I'm here now.

Cardinal

Like asking French related questions here? I am not sure if we have any French people here or experts.

Qàtrè

@Cardinal Nowadays I only read Persian books, but the last English book which I read was "Being There" by Jerzy Kosinski. I didn't like that book very much. I think its cinematic adaptation is rather better than the original book.

Cardinal

Although legend has it some sage kettles and snails living here help people with Russian and Japanese!

Qàtrè

@Cardinal My favourite movie genres are film-noir, and western.

Cardinal

@Qàtrè Oh dark stuff. :-)

@Qàtrè Cool Cool.

Qàtrè

01:02

@Cardinal No, I joined another chat room about French language. But then I decided to join English and Esperanto rooms too.

Cardinal

@Qàtrè I see.

Qàtrè

@Cardinal I like russian literature and japanese culture. But I prefer to learn English and French before.

@Cardinal yes, thank you :-)

Cardinal

@Qàtrè Awesome.

Are you a student?

Qàtrè

What about you? What are your favourite literature and film genres?

Cardinal

Hmm, recently I've been watching crime movies.

I really like the movie "Departed" by Scorsese.

Qàtrè

01:05

@Cardinal No, I was. Nowadays, I would like to start studying in universities again, but I'm not sure about it yet.

Cardinal

Regarding the books, I am into non-fiction things.

@Qàtrè Nods

Qàtrè

@Cardinal Oh yes, I watched it some years ago. I love the acting of Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson there, although I admire acting of Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg too.

I'm not sure if Mark Wahlberg was in that movie too, or not.

Cardinal

Yes, he was there.

Such a great piece of work.

Qàtrè

@Cardinal I like nonfiction too. But now I prefer to read less nonfiction and more fiction.

Cardinal

I also liked couple of things that Fincher put out.

like

Qàtrè

01:08

Yes, that was one of the best movies which Scorsese have ever made.

Cardinal

Se7en and The Girl with Dragon Tatto

Qàtrè

sorry I don't know if I wrote that sentence correctly or not.

@Cardinal Yes, Fincher is a really good director. I admire him.

@Cardinal Se7en is a great movie, but I've not seen the girl with dragon tatto yet.

Cardinal

@Qàtrè It is alright, I always make different type of mistakes, especially the grammatical ones. :))

Anonymous

Hello!

Cardinal

@Qàtrè That was a very very good one.

Qàtrè

01:10

is "which Scorsese has ever made" is correct?

Cardinal

@snailcar Hello, I missed you dear snaily! o/

Qàtrè

@snailcar hello :-)

skullpatrol

hi

Qàtrè

@Cardinal Se7en? Yes, it is a great movie.

@skullpatrol hi

Anonymous

Long time no chat, @Cardinal!

Anonymous

01:11

Welcome to the chat room, @Qàtrè!

Cardinal

@Qàtrè : No I meant The girl with dragon tattoo.

Qàtrè

@snailcar Thank you :-)

Cardinal

@skullpatrol Hello there. Are you from Nevada pal?

Qàtrè

@Cardinal Oh, OK.

G Warner

@Qàtrè I hadn't actually read 'Being There', but I adored the movie.

skullpatrol

01:12

@Cardinal as soon as we get a confirmed season I will be :-)

Anonymous

@GWarner Are you talking about an actual game? I didn't quite understand your message.

Cardinal

@skullpatrol LoL.

Qàtrè

@GWarner Hello. I don't recommend you reading the book, while I'm not a fan of the movie adaptation, although I admire acting of Peter Sellers.

skullpatrol

@Qàtrè Welcome to the chat :-)

G Warner

@snailcar Oh about time wasted? Yea I was playing a game online while I surfed around elsewhere as well

Qàtrè

01:14

@skullpatrol Thank you :-)

Cardinal

Alright guys, I gotta go.
I'll catch up with you later.
Stay safe and wash those hands one more time for me!

2

skullpatrol

cya, pal o/

G Warner

I remember it well because I was a teen when it was released. It was the last film being shown at an old 100 seat theatre in my hometown before it was renovated into something else.

Qàtrè

That time (1979), I was not born yet!

@Cardinal goodbye! :-)

G Warner

Yea owner let us sit up in the balcony, the was maybe 20 people in the theatre. I felt like royalty.

Qàtrè

01:19

@GWarner Sellers made so much effort to make that movie, and hal ashby's direction is good, although the movie was not a very good one, after all.

@GWarner that's a nice memory for you.

Well, I have to go, too. Goodbye everybody until the next time!

G Warner

@snailcar I had a game automated to perform some menial tasks. It takes several hours in real time to travel long distances in the game.... I got bored, and decided to fight some enemies, and got disintegrated.

Another hour and I would have reached my destination.

Fare thee well @Qàtrè

Listening to Ben Howard on Youtube. Only place I can listen to him. Some good quarantine music..

Oh and I can smell food burning, so tomorrows dinner is done.

15 mins ago, by Cardinal

Alright guys, I gotta go.
I'll catch up with you later.
Stay safe and wash those hands one more time for me!

Sorry, just getting a bit stri crazy.. Good night.

CowperKettle

01:54

1

A: Use of the word "and" or "or" in a list of objects

The cooordinating conjunctions 'or' and 'and', when placed before the final item in a list of more than two items, are considered as if they had been placed between the preceding items. You can have cake, bread, or crackers (you can have one of these); you can have beer, wine, and coffee (you can...

Interesting answer

CowperKettle

02:20

I wonder if this issue is discussed in the CGEL or Quirk et al.

Based on the above answer, the following answer must be wrong:

1

A: Using "and" vs "or" in a list

There is a slight difference in your first two sentences. First, the difference between "and" and "or": 1) I am against twablulation except in the cases of delivery, attack, and colorization of a twibble. 2) I am against twablulation except in the cases of delivery, attack, or colori...

Good morning, G

M.A.R.

09:38

@Qàtrè Hello Hamvatan! Welcome to ELL chat

@CowperKettle I'm sure it is, and tediously so

@Cardinal You should be asking me for movie suggestions. Fickle.

CowperKettle

11:42

> When preparing the Quality Plan, the QPPV evaluates the sufficiency and applicability of existing standard operating procedures and working instructions on pharmacovigilance, taking into account the data of internal and external audit reports, follow-up audit reports, and the results of inspections for the expired period

Is this okay? the expired period?

It means the period that has ended.

The qualified person evaluates the results of inspections that were carried out during the last period.

Cardinal

12:25

@M.A.R. Ha Ha Ha, true though!

@CowperKettle If the inspection is already finished, I think "the inspections" would convey the same thing.

CowperKettle

12:45

No, it's never finished, the QPPV conducts them on a regular basis.

And prepared the quality plan once in a while based on the results of inspections carried out over the latest period.

Cardinal

16:20

@CowperKettle I see, the phrase "expired period" gave me this feeling that the results are related to a series of investigations that were made once during that specific time frame.

Have you provided any description for this expired period earlier in the text?

If so, "the aforementioned period" might work.

M.A.R.

17:08

@CowperKettle I don't think "expired" is common in the attributive position

Unless it is referring to the expiry date of milk

@CowperKettle Why won't "previous" work?

userr2684291

17:37

ell.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5168/… Should we ban all questions regarding understanding the meaning of a word in a given context?

But like, of a word/phrase, not of a syntactic construction.

Because constructions can be generalized and potentially tagged properly, and it might be useful for someone (me, lol) trying to understand something to see this construction in different contexts, heh.

I'd also support banning all questions about archaic / old-fashioned language. This language is not used any more, so it's not helping you learn English. If you're reading an English classic, that makes you an English enthusiast, I believe. Direct such questions to ELU.

Also, ban Christmas (I've really chosen the right time to say that).

Otherwise, I have a thousand questions dealing with "meaning in context". Whenever you don't conventionally "understand something", that means you don't understand the meaning of some words in some context.

All etymology questions should also go to ELU.

Qui tacet consentire videtur, as always, so...

Cardinal

18:09

What are you up to @userr2684291?

Hope you are doing well.

Guys, any thoughts on why I received down-votes on this post:

-2

Q: Is it idiomatic to use "fixate" to imply an intensified focus on something, especially in technical writings?

I have done some researches and I think "fixate" imparts a taste of obsession in addition to that of being attentive of something. Would "fixate" imply an intensified focus on something? For instance, in an technical/scientific description as We fixate on the major components influencing th...

userr2684291

@Cardinal Working on some projects, nothing much.

@Cardinal Well, someone voted to close it because it's answerable by a dictionary.

I say use focus.

Cardinal

@userr2684291 I see, but I wondering what if I use fixate, I guess that may stress out the amount of care and attention we give to the matter.

Not sure though.

userr2684291

I interpret your fixate on something as "obsess over something".

Cardinal

@userr2684291 Good!

@userr2684291 Yes, that's exactly my question.

userr2684291

I don't know, I haven't seen this use of fixate in the wild. Obsess over something has negative connotations.

Cardinal

18:17

doesn't it mean a more careful attention to a subject bordering to obsession.

@userr2684291 Nods

userr2684291

There might be bona fide examples of that, I'm just not sure... I always see it in expressions like "Stop fixating on..." or "But they're too fixated on that aspect to notice...". Fixate means like, to look at something, stupefied (exaggerating here). Like in a cartoon, when Bugs Bunny spots the... female bunny, what's-her-name.

I would not use fixate in your context.

I suggest rephrasing the sentence to emphasize what you want.

> We focus on the major components influencing the computation time.

@Cardinal Where do you say this, is it like "Now we shift our attention to..." or is this a description of your team, CV-like? A kind of summary statement?

Cardinal

@userr2684291 Nice.

@userr2684291 No, it is the beginning of a description about why we are taking into account those components.

userr2684291

@Cardinal So a sort of summary statement: "In this chapter we do X, while paying great attention to ..."?

Cardinal

@userr2684291 Yup!

very close.

more like

we pay great attention to A and B and C and D since they are influential.

next sentence:

Specifically, A does X and that why it is important to be considered and so force for B and C and D.

I found one instance of this usage for "fixate" in one of the Bryan Tracy's books. LoL

userr2684291

18:47

@Cardinal Why not just say it that way? Maybe "We examine thoroughly / fix our attention on / analyze in detail the major ...". Well, hopefully someone will give you an answer. I won't vote to close this question.

Cardinal

@userr2684291 I am not gonna write it that way though. I was curious to know how it would sound.

userr2684291

Alright. I'm sure a native or more proficient speaker's insight will be much more valuable than mine. Hopefully someone "bites" and answers that question. I've followed your question in case someone answers, haha.

I do like the new follow option. It's very handy.

Cardinal

@userr2684291 Oh do we really have one now?

Thats awesome, thanks for letting me know.

I always wanted it.

:-)

userr2684291

19:03

Nws.

I can't believe this thing... ugh. So I was about to watch this show, the second season, but the episodes are mislabeled (I can't find any torrents for it), and in the worst possible way: the finale is labeled as the first episode, and the first episode as the finale, and everything is normal in-between.

I watched the first 10 minutes of it, and I thought at one point it's gonna say "a month ago", or something like that, i.e. going back to the beginning to explain the events. But no such thing occurred, obviously, and to make matters worse, they revealed which characters die and stuff, hahaha.

Well, I'm certainly watching it as though the "a month ago" thing did happen.

:-)

(That's my "happy but internally sad" smiley.)

G Warner

20:13

@userr2684291 Fixate implies obsessing. Focus implies concentrating on something.

Fixating is to staring intently as focusing is watching intently.

G Warner

20:32

You know you are getting old when you need to check the definition of a word you wish to use in an answer to another's question about the definition of another word.

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