English Language Learners

I still think that the idea of an adverb modifying a noun phrase will be alien to most (all?) the grammar pedants.

はう！

Anonymous

はい！

@snailboat Wait, when you said "feet", you mean each snail has only one foot, right?

Anonymous

@F.E. Yes

Anonymous

5:01 AM

I used plural feet in this case because I was talking about multiple snails :-)

So, two or more snails can walk with their feet, but one snail cannot because it has only a foot, right? This would make a great riddle. :)

Anonymous

Hee.

Anonymous

Sometimes people say that snails slither, but this seems to be factually incorrect

Oh, I could use this riddle when I meet Gollum!

Anonymous

They don't move like snakes.

Anonymous

5:02 AM

@DamkerngT. "could have used … when I met" / "could use … when I meet"

Hmm... Not can use ... when I meet?

Anonymous

Sure, can works too. It wasn't supposed to be an exhaustive list of suggestions

But could use ... when I met doesn't work?

Anonymous

Well, it seems to be false. Past tense met locates the meeting in the past

I used that when as if it was an if. Perhaps it was a bad idea.

5:06 AM

@DamkerngT. Let's see what snailboat thinks about that "WHAT" question?

Anonymous

What what question? :-)

A: I am confused over whether to use "what" or "that"

scrolling back...

5 hours ago, by Damkerng T.

5

Both are grammatical, but they mean somewhat different things. He knows what other teachers don't know. In this the clause what other teachers don't know is a "free relative clause", which acts all-by-itself as a noun clause. In this case it acts as the Direct Object of the verb knows. ...

5 hours ago, by Damkerng T.

> He knows all the things which other teachers don't know.

Yup. "He knows WHAT other teachers don't know"

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Shouldn't that be that?

Actually, that quote wasn't mine.

5:09 AM

@snailboat I think both versions are fine. :)

Anonymous

I feel like that would be better, but I can't recall a rule off the top of my head which would prohibit which

It's that "WHAT" version that there's some unclearness as to how to parse it.

I think these are fine: what, that which, all the things that, all the things which, something that, something which, some things that, some things which

As to it using a subordinate clause, or else using a fused relative, or ambiguous as to which.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. books.google.com/ngrams/…

Anonymous

5:11 AM

COCA results: all the things that (991) all the things which (9)

Anonymous

But published results (especially American?) may be skewed by editors doing some which-hunting

Judging from my memory, I think that is becoming to replace which.

@snailboat I think CGEL might mention that case . . .

CGEL has "All (that) I ask for is a little peace and quiet", on page 1053, "(e) Anything, all, etc: non-wh preferred". But that probably doesn't apply here . . .

Anonymous

I feel like it does. I think calling that "preferred", without actually saying which is not allowed, is good descriptively

@snailboat But would that apply when "all" is ~~a pre-modifier (?) (or is that pre-determiner?)~~ in "all the things"?

Anonymous

5:19 AM

I think predeterminer

Now I gotta look up to see what function "all" is doing here . . .

@snailboat I think you're right . . .

Anonymous

If you go to the front of the book to the list of diagrams

Anonymous

There's one with even all the…

Q: Can we use 'what does she look' without the preposition 'like'?

There's page 433, "Predeterminer modifiers": Predeterminer modifiers, or predeterminers, are one type of external modifier, . . . with an example "She had lost all her money".

Anonymous

0

4 linking verb to seem; to appear +noun: That looks an interesting book.You made me look a complete fool! (OALD) For linking verb, look, can have NP complements (OALD,#4), I thought '[A] what does she look like?’ can be altered into '[B] what does she look?’ without meaning change. But I c...

interrogative

Anonymous

5:22 AM

That's a fun question

Anonymous

NP structure in Japanese is so much simpler :-)

@snailboat Yes, it is.

"That looks an interesting book" is ungrammatical. But "You made me look a complete fool!" seems to be okay to my AmE ear--er, on 2nd thought, maybe not:)

Anonymous

@F.E. It's true that as phrased in CGEL it doesn't seem to apply to all in predeterminer function. But looking at examples (like ours here), it does seem like the same principle applies, so maybe it could be stated slightly more generally

@snailboat My head is actually too burnt out to, er, think, er . . .

If "appear" replaces "look", does that make the 2nd version more acceptable to you guys? "That appears an interesting book" is ungrammatical. But "You made me appear a complete fool!" ?

Hmm, maybe "look" is actually better for the 2nd version . . .

The second still works; look feels better.

Interesting corpora links:

corpus.byu.edu/bnc/?c=bnc&q=31421453

corpus2.byu.edu/glowbe/?c=glowbe&q=31421478

Seems like a Britishism.

5:33 AM

I wonder if the 2nd version would be dialectal . . .

Anonymous

Examples like "He looks a mess" do seem a bit archaic in AmE

@jimsug That looks rather convincing to me. :) I don't know why, but reading the examples written/published by others looks so much more convincing . . .

Oh, strange.

Anonymous

> She holds Cecil by the hand, who looks a veritable Red Ridinghood, tempting enough to ensnare any wolf.

I just tried gameswithwords.org/WhichEnglish.

5:36 AM

Interesting: corpus2.byu.edu/glowbe/?c=glowbe&q=31421536

Anonymous

> Poor mamma says nothing; but she looks a world of reproach.　　←　　Interesting use of look

So, who's going to write an answer post for that thread? :)

A single example of your example :P

Anonymous

> Another one! O Lord! He looks a bloodthirsty and sanguinary monster.

@snailboat I do not!

5:37 AM

Are these from the GB sections?

Anonymous

These are all historical AmE.

Anonymous

> Whose treacherous smoothness looks a solid strand / But tempts to ruin

"to make me look a fool" -- was in there.

Hmm. I wonder whether it was similar to historical BrE, and BrE just never grew out of it?

Anonymous

I think certain fossilized phrases without like have stuck around, like that one.

5:38 AM

I couldn't feel anything wrong with the three bolded sentences.

Anonymous

@jimsug That's always been my impression, but I've never investigated it rigorously

Anonymous

I think it just fell out of use in the US as we started to use like more

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. They feel "old" to me.

(I've started typing unusually lately: I typed grew as grou before realising it.

> Our top three guesses for your English dialect: 1. English (England) 2. Scottish (UK) 3. Welsh (UK)
Our top three guesses for your native (first) language: 1. Norwegian 2. English 3. Swedish

Anonymous

5:38 AM

What languages have you been using lately?

@snailboat Unless we get mad, then we tend to drop the "like" . . . I think.

@DamkerngT. is it close?

Well, what do you think? :)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh, is this one of those silly online tests, and can I take it? :-)

Yes!

I'm Norwegian!

Anonymous

5:39 AM

@F.E. Oh! Get mad, not get made. I was wondering why joining the mob made people start using archaic grammar.

@snailboat It's been surprisingly accurate, except for putting New Zealandish as the first guess for my dialect.

@snailboat gameswithwords.org/WhichEnglish

Anonymous

Thanks!

It works off a training corpus and it's been updated quite a few times in the last few weeks.

@DamkerngT. I was Singaporean :P

@snailboat I'm not sure if I typed that or if it was the automatic spell corrector. You know the spell corrector keeps messing up "snailboat", into "sailboat". sad

5:41 AM

@Fantasier Hehe!

@Fantasier You should share it with more people so the training data can improve.

Anonymous

Some of these questions are hard.

@snailboat The elephant/hill ones?

I had to really think about those.

Anonymous

Yeah.

Anonymous

Well, not elephant. But hill.

5:42 AM

@jimsug I think I've shared the link on Twitter. Not sure if I have, though.

@Fantasier I'm only promoting it in the hopes that more Aussies will do it and it'll identify us correctly.

Having said that, I don't think there are any Aus/NZ distinguishing shibboleths in there.

What surprised me the most were the top three guesses for my English dialect!

@jimsug Aww, I don't know many Aussies.

@Fantasier yeah, but maybe people you know know Aussies.

I love (ab)using (the lack of) punctuation

@snailboat Interesting. My instinct was =each child rode their own elephant

but then I thought about it more. Perhaps I thought too much.

@jimsug I see.

5:46 AM

Or Kiwis, I'm not picky.

Anonymous

Oh, I thought you meant the elephant bit question. Sorry, my network isn't working very well so I'm not very far along in the test--I just got the redundant elephant question

Most of the cartoons are funny. :)

Q: how to answer the sentence "how are you going?"

@snailboat Not sure whether it's redundant - each/every distinction?

Anonymous

-1

i found the following dialogue somewhere. The answer given is C. I am a little bit confused about it. How are you going, buddy? ________. A little busy, though. The options given for the blank were: A. Not too bad B. Can't be worse C. On my own D. By train I want to know which an...

sentences

Oh, I remember this one!

Anonymous

5:48 AM

Haha, "the man whom arrived yesterday"

"How are you going?" "Not very fast." :)

Language is fascinating. I love ambiguity.

Not bad

I'd've singled that out straight away.

Anonymous

When this question was asked, I had no idea it was an actual AusE phrase

I'm not sure how they identified C as the correct answer, that just sounds weird

Yeah. It is. I didn't realise it was distinct to Australia until about... thirty seconds ago.

How would that be perceived, if used in response to you asking me how I am?

Anonymous

Well, I can't put my mind in a tabula rasa state, so I can't answer that question with any confidence, but the way I imagine it I'd either assume you misspoke or say "Huh?"

5:51 AM

Ask me how I am.

Anonymous

Hey, jimsug, how are you?

@snailboat Not bad.

What does everyone think?

I'm okay with the answer.

Anonymous

Seems like a normal exchange.

Hmm. Maybe it only works in speech :P

Anonymous

5:52 AM

Add the word going and it gets strange.

As in, only sounds odd in speech. I need to try this on someone fresh.

Anonymous

Oh, center embedding, but no multiple center embedding (yet)!

Anonymous

> Our top three guesses for your English dialect:
1. American (Standard)
2. US Black Vernacular / Ebonics
3. Canadian
Our top three guesses for your native (first) language:
1. English
2. Norwegian
3. Swedish

I'm guessing it's accurate?

Anonymous

Yep.

5:58 AM

I think I'm wanting dessert is an Indian English shibboleth.

Anonymous

Sorta.

Do they have only these three choices as the native language? :)

Apparently I'm finished my homework is a Canadian shibboleth.

Oh! It is?!

Our top three guesses for your English dialect:

1. New Zealandish
2. US Black Vernacular / Ebonics
3. South African
Our top three guesses for your native (first) language:

1. Norwegian
2. English
3. Dutch

Anonymous

5:59 AM

"I'm wanting dessert" is fine in my AmE. I can turn lots of normally stative predicates progressive

Maybe I've worked with Kiwis for too long?! :P

@snailboat Interesting. There's a few of those, though.

Anonymous

But working with InE speakers, I do find lots of strange stative progressives.

@snailboat Doesn't it sound a little childish?

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. No.

Anonymous

Informal, though.

6:00 AM

It got me right: Standard English.

Ahh... I see. Thanks!

Anonymous

So if you wanted to test for InE speakers' stative progressives, you should pick better examples than "I'm wanting dessert"

Though, I had to resist some of the "subjunctive" examples, me being a tiger and all.

@snailboat There were a whole bunch of those, but that's the only Indian shibboleth I can think of.

Anonymous

That one isn't.

6:01 AM

There was one early example that didn't have "who" as an option, only "that" when the antecedent was a person (also an incorrect "whom"). Did you guys notice that?

Anonymous

@F.E. Yeah!

nods

Anonymous

13 mins ago, by snailboat

Haha, "the man whom arrived yesterday"

@snailboat Hmm. It definitely doesn't work in AuE.

@snailboat I think The man that arrived yesterday is completely fine.

It was the question with a picture of a guy.

Anonymous

6:02 AM

There's a long-term trend in AmE toward allowing non-stative uses of traditionally stative verbs, but it's not as simple as "you can put all (verbs that are traditionally) statives in the progressive"

Anonymous

So there's a fairly sharp line between the InE use and AmE use

@snailboat Fair enough. I wonder whether it's an effect of language contact? Though I'd then expect AuE and BrE to be affected as well...

Anonymous

@jimsug Yep.

Anonymous

There's a lot of mainstream examples, like the McDonald's slogan "I'm lovin' it!"

Anonymous

Decried (incorrectly) as ungrammatical

6:04 AM

Yeah, fair enough. Didn't even think of that.

It's strange that "American" wasn't included in my dialect guesses.

Interestingly, I don't think any of the translations for it are ungrammatical.

@DamkerngT. American is likely too broad.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. What were yours again?

26 mins ago, by Damkerng T.

> Our top three guesses for your English dialect: 1. English (England) 2. Scottish (UK) 3. Welsh (UK)
Our top three guesses for your native (first) language: 1. Norwegian 2. English 3. Swedish

Anonymous

I think it's funny that they label AAVE "US Black Vernacular / Ebonics"

6:05 AM

Although in their chart, it's AAVE

Anonymous

I deliberately didn't check any boxes as grammatical things that would be grammatical in AAVE but aren't in Standard AmE

@snailboat I wonder how that might've affected your results.

@snailboat Me neither.

Anonymous

But they still put it second on the list :-)

gameswithwords.org/WhichEnglish/dialect_results.html

Anonymous

6:06 AM

@F.E. Ah! You say "me neither"

v. cool graph thing.

Anonymous

I say "me either".

I use both. -- confused

@snailboat That's war! Tiger English is the only way!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. That's not allowed.

6:07 AM

@snailboat I could never say "me either".

@snailboat sobbing

Anonymous

I went through millions of lines of chat logs and found that most of my AmE friends also say me either, but a few say me neither, and a small minority say both

I'm a me neither as well

Anonymous

I found that among Canadian English speakers neither was more common

@snailboat I think that test had "Canadian" as its 2nd guess for me.

Anonymous

6:09 AM

These results aren't intended to be generally applicable, though--they're based on chat logs with people I know :-)

Anonymous

But me either is quite common in AmE speech

Anonymous

I discovered recently that certain people online are taken quite aback by it

I was brought up pretty close to Canada, in the Northeast (NY state).

Anonymous

And consider it a barbarism of some sort.

People online have wafer-thin skin.

6:10 AM

Yeah, "me either" just sounds wrong.

Anonymous

But I'll never switch to me neither. Just doesn't sound right coming out of my mouth :-)

But "me neither" sounds so much stronger.

@snailboat Same, but reversed :P

Anonymous

@F.E. Does it really? I don't detect a difference in meaning

They said "Me either" at Oscars.

Anonymous

6:10 AM

Scandalous!

It's "me Neither" -- manly, no, it's Tigerly!

Anonymous

Hah

@DamkerngT. See, that supports my position!

lol

People at Oscars are part of my speech model, too.

How do you usually pronounce '(n)either', btw? /(n)aɪðər/? /(n)i:ðər/?

6:13 AM

/ni:ðər/

Anonymous

@Fantasier Free variation.

@snailboat Do you insert a glottal stop when you say "me either"?

Anonymous

@jimsug Nope! It runs together.

Mostly, I use the /i/ sound.

Anonymous

I do insert a glottal stop if I say the egg with schwa for the

6:14 AM

@snailboat Yay

@snailboat So /mi::ðər/?

:p

Anonymous

@jimsug That seems fair. Three heavy syllables, rhythmically speaking.

►

Anonymous

And I do pronounce the /ðə/ before vowels. It's not uncommon in AmE, I think, although no one's really done the research to determine how common

Anonymous

Well, with epenthetic [ʔ].

6:18 AM

@snailboat I'd never even noticed myself alternating until a couple weeks ago.

Anonymous

English language learners are generally taught ðə before consonants, ði before vowels, but not all native speakers have that pattern

Anonymous

in English Language & Usage, May 30 at 13:01, by snailboat

John Wells writes in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary:

Anonymous

in English Language & Usage, May 30 at 13:01, by snailboat

> The English as a foreign language learner is advised to use ðə before a consonant sound (the boy, the house), ði before a vowel sound (the egg, the hour). Native speakers, however, sometimes ignore this distribution, in particular by using ðə before a vowel (which is in turn usually reinforced by a preceding ʔ), or by using ðiː in any environment, though especially before a hesitation pause. Furthermore, some speakers use stressed ðə as a strong form, rather than the usual ðiː.

I've heard ðiː before a hesitation pause quite a lot. (They sometimes changed to ðə after the pause if the the preceded a consonant sound though)

I think ðiii... is good for that purpose.

6:27 AM

Slightly different: Is "No worries" an acceptable response to "Thank you"?

Because if it doesn't long enough, we can shift to ðiii...um.... at any time. :)

@jimsug Is it?

@DamkerngT. I'm looking for opinions on this.

Not to me I think

I think it's really strange.

@jimsug Sure, why not? It think it might have gotten popular as being derived from Australian commercials and Hollywood stereotyping? But I'm guessing here.

6:32 AM

checking out movie scripts...

@F.E. Possibly. Not sure. But definitely acceptable in Australian.

Yeah, that movie about down under, the guy who visited NYC . . .

I can visualize the actor . . . "Nay, that's not a knife" and pulls out a really big knife, "Now that's a knife" when he and the woman was getting mugged (attempted mugging).

> Finding Nemo (2003)
01:02:20 Now turn your fishy tails around...
01:02:21 and swim straight on through to Sydney!
01:02:25 No worries, man!
01:02:27 No worries! Thank you, dude Crush!
01:02:29 - Bye! - Bye, Jellyman!

Crocodile Dundee!

What about:
"How's the weather?"
"Not bad."

Is that okay?

6:37 AM

This one sounds fine to me.

@jimsug Sure, for my dialect.

> Crocodile Dundee
00:45:42 No worries.
01:25:12 No worries, mate.
00:41:18 Oh, yeah, yeah. No worries.
01:23:24 Oh, yeah, Gus. No worries.
01:10:51 Yeah. No worries, Wal. Ta ta.
00:53:34 Don't worry about Mick.
01:09:14 you'll be clear as a bell. No worries.
00:01:36 Don't worry. I'm a New Yorker.
00:16:08 Don't worry. He's the best bushman in the territory.

Oh, I found a good one!

@DamkerngT. Yup. :)

> Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
01:04:31 - Thanks a lot, Harry. - No worries.

Hmm. The "no worries" question developed on Facebook, when someone pointed out that Australians tend to beat around the bush.

6:40 AM

But Harry Potter is in BrE, I think.

Maybe it's a British thing too.

Uh, oh. Another one of these: What is the purpose of using “don't” instead of “doesn't” in this phrase: “But she don't know you like I know you Slim” ell.stackexchange.com/questions/26382/…

Isn't it a dialect thing?

Yup.

Or, perhaps: "“But she be hating on you, Slim” -- in my neighborhood.

She be pretty, or she be ugly

"You be on time, or I'll kick your butt"

6:44 AM

Do you think the learning tag is redundant on ELL?

No, but I do think people misuse it.

@jimsug Now that be funny! :)

Anonymous

I think most questions misuse tags on ELL :-)

Anonymous

The tag system isn't really ideal for most SE sites

Anonymous

In particular for language sites

Anonymous

6:46 AM

So it's not a really big deal but they do still have some uses, so…

Thing is, tagging only works if you know how it works.

Unless we take the approach to tagging as we do language, and just say that however it's used is fine :P

@Fantasier What's a question that uses it correctly?

Anonymous

@jimsug Whether that makes sense depends on what you mean by "fine"

@jimsug Maybe this ell.stackexchange.com/questions/11847/…

ell.stackexchange.com/questions/14340/what-i-need-to-learn Or this

@Fantasier Hmm. do you think it might fall under "How can I improve my English?"?

@jimsug Yes? But it's more specific?

Anonymous

6:51 AM

The general impression I've gotten, despite the existence of a few questions like that, is that people want ELL to be about English, not about learning English

@snailboat Usage, rather than learning methods, yes?

Anonymous

Yeah.

Anonymous

But we do have a few good questions with good answers

Anonymous

They make up a small minority of ELL questions.

8:37 AM

> 1. I could play with my dear friends tomorrow at the seaside, but my sister happened to fall ill. I'll have to stay at home looking after her.
2. I could play with my dear friends tomorrow at the seaside, but this all depends if my mom will allow me to.

I'm not convinced #1 is valid. Since the "playing" is irrealis in the past, it's no longer a possibility. So it should be "I could have played...". And had his sister not been ill, OP would have been able to play. — FumbleFingers 12 hours ago

Hmm...

As far as I can tell, this I could play is a hypothetical thinking. It might also be called an "unreal present" by some.

I'm a little uncomfortable with the but in #1, though.

Anonymous

#1 means that it's still possible.

Anonymous

In the first sentence

Anonymous

The second sentence contradicts it

Anonymous

So the speaker must have changed their mind between sentences

Anonymous

#1 is self-contradictory, which doesn't make it ungrammatical, but …

8:41 AM

If I understand #1 correctly (I guessed @ZhanlongZheng made it up), the intended meaning is, "I was able to play tomorrow, but my sister is now sick, so I can't go."

Anonymous

Not possible.

That's why I feel uncomfortable with #1.

Anonymous

If that's the intended meaning, then, well, it's ungrammatical with the intended meaning

Anonymous

Didn't we talk about the interpretation of main clause could before?

I think I guess what was intended right.

Anonymous

8:43 AM

@DamkerngT. I think so too, but the sentence forces you to interpret it differently.

Anonymous

Well, sentence pair.

But let's put that aside. What should be the meaning of #1, if there is some sense in it?

@snailboat We might have, but even if we had I seem not to be able to apply it here.

Anonymous

To answer that, I have to repeat what I said above

So it doesn't make any sense as a well-planned sentence?

I think the meaning is something more like:

Anonymous

8:46 AM

@DamkerngT. No

While my sister was healthy, I had been able to play tomorrow, but now that she is sick, I'm not able to.

That's similar to what I guessed, though I think it (the #1 sentence) shouldn't be phrased that way.

Anonymous

That does look like the intended meaning.

The difficult part is how to explain it (where it went wrong, how to fix it, etc.).

Anonymous

Well, it looks like they're using could play to mean could have played

Anonymous

8:50 AM

It could be improved with a little rephrasing all around, in any case

> I thought I could play with my dear friends tomorrow at the seaside, but my sister happened to fall ill. I'll have to stay at home looking after her.

Does this fix it?

It could only work if you said "I could have played with ...."

Even though it's about tomorrow?

> I could have played tomorrow, but heck, I can't now.

I think so. The ability/possibility was in the past.

Hmm... This is new to me.

8:54 AM

> I would have been on holiday in a week, but the airline cancelled my tickets.

Hmm... would helps a lot (to put my thought forward into the future).

> I could have been on holiday in a week, but the airline cancelled my tickets.

A-ha! It makes sense now. Thanks!

Anonymous

I could have played … 〜 I would have been able to play …

Yup.

8:57 AM

Thank you both @snailboat and @jimsug!

Anonymous

BTW, don't forget to keep working on your hiragana :-)

No worries.

I don't, though it now progresses at about 2 days a row. :)

Anonymous

"I won't ~~forget~~" / "I haven't ~~forgotten~~"

Eh? Saying "I don't" is not good?

(I agree that "I won't" is better.)

Anonymous

9:01 AM

"I don't ~~forget~~" probably has a general (habitual) interpretation. It's odd in this context

nods

Probably what I thought is closer to "I haven't".

Anonymous

That doesn't mean it's ungrammatical, but probably infelicitous (= inappropriate in context)

Hmm... Is it possible to answer "I didn't"?

Anonymous

9:18 AM

Yes

Ah, Thanks!

Anonymous

In general, when I list preferred alternatives, 1. they may or may not be "corrections"; 2. the list is probably not intended to be exhaustive

nods

Anonymous

I'm just trying to comment informally when I feel something is off. Could be something ungrammatical, unidiomatic, infelicitous, semantically suspect, …

Q: Who are some prolific modern linguists that are not Noam Chomsky?

I try to tune my thoughts to the language.

Somehow, between "I haven't" and "I didn't", I think I prefer "I didn't".

Perhaps I shouldn't think about it too much, and let my brain choose by itself.

Anonymous

9:25 AM

I think haven't is better, personally.

Anonymous

-1

Just looking for a general survey of the field. All I hear about is Noam!

chomsky

Anonymous

Hee.

Q: What is the purpose of using "don't" instead of "doesn't" in this phrase: "But she don't know you like I know you Slim"

Oh, look at the tag!

0

I was listening Eminem's song, "stan". I noticed in one verse he says: But she don't know you like I know you Slim... First I didn't believe my ears, but when I read out the lyrics I got astonished. I further searched on google and found on some other forums that this type of incorrec...

grammar learning language-usage

Interesting!

Does the song writer try to suggest that someone on the verge of losing his mind might not be able to compose his letter grammatically?

Anonymous

9:41 AM

@DamkerngT. You made an incorrect assumption there

Anonymous

Not everyone tries to speak Standard English all the time :-)

Anonymous

There's no implication that the speaker was failing to speak Standard English. They were probably succeeding at speaking non-standard English.

Ahh

10:08 AM

@DamkerngT. me too

Q: Are these expressions still relevant?

11:41 AM

0

though we had made good spare of them I have made choice of the best in the bag. These are to be found in Shakespeare and Bacon respectively, as can be known with a quick google search. Have they already fallen into expiry?

grammar

Obviously, their Google and the one I use are different ones!

Q: Are these expressions still relevant?

11:57 AM

I searched for "I have made choice of the best in the bag". The only two results are the question and Newest Questions page on here.

Anonymous

It shouldn't be that hard to actually cite one's quotes and, if possible, reproduce them accurately

Anonymous

Not to mention give complete sentences, mark the boundaries of the quotes, …

Anonymous

> But then againe ther arose Strong and Great Windes from the South, with a Point East ; which carried us up, (for all that we could doe) towards the North : By which time our Victualls failed us, though we had made good spare of them. So that finding ourselves, in the Midst of the greatest Wildernesse of Waters in the World, without Victuall, we gave our Selves for lost Men, and prepared for Death.

Anonymous

Francis Bacon, The New Atlantis (1627, incomplete)

Anonymous

So, the first quote is not by Shakespeare as claimed. The second quote is… Um.

Anonymous

12:08 PM

Hey, an edit.

Anonymous

0

though we had made good spare of them(From Bacon, NEW ATLANTIS) that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety(KING LEAR) These are to be found in Shakespeare and Bacon respectively, as can be known with a quick google search. Have they already fallen into expiry?

grammar

Anonymous

Meh. I edited it

12:26 PM

@F.E. Almost all the new knowledge I have been acquiring from ELL is compatible with my former grammar books. e.g. "Can I do sth?" is as good as "May I do sth?".

not just adverbs modifying nouns.

Anonymous

12:46 PM

Why does ELL have a language-usage tag?

Anonymous

What does that even mean? :-)

Anonymous

Given that 99% of the questions on the site are about English usage.

Anonymous

I made the tag go away.

Anonymous

I am a destroyer of tags.

Anonymous

(I am The Destroyer of Tags?)

12:52 PM

No, yo are the Destroyer of Lags.

Anonymous

I wish. Stack Exchange is being so slow for me right now.

why does the website always warn me of javascripts banned due to blocked third-party websites?

I'm no expert in codes.

Anonymous

Can you take a screen shot of the actual message?

Anonymous

You might consider asking on meta.

Q: Stack Exchange's heavy reliance on external scripts

I wish but somehow it disappeared. It will come out again.

Anonymous

12:58 PM

-10

I dislike running third-party scripts in my browser and have disabled these generally. I can enable them on an exceptional basis, but it strikes me that Stack Exchange has an unusually heavy reliance on JavaScript code that's hosted externally, that is, on other sites. In particular, much of S...

feature-request status-declined javascript cdn third-party