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Anonymous
12:02 AM
@DamkerngT. So what do you think? Five thousand tons of water is, or five thousand tons of water are? :-)
 
Anonymous
@Iplodman Notional as in "notion", the way you're thinking about it. Like, if you say "The committee are" because you're thinking about committee as plural, even though it's got the form of a singular noun
 
Anonymous
If you use grammatical agreement, then you look at the form of the word and say "Yep, that's singular, I'll say The committee is"
 
Anonymous
If you use notional agreement, then it depends on whether you think about the word as being singular or plural. "Well, a committee's a bunch of people, I'll say The committee are"
 
Anonymous
And that depends on context
 
Anonymous
A lot of the time American speakers use grammatical agreement when UK speakers would use notional agreement
 
Anonymous
12:07 AM
So sometimes American speakers say is when UK speakers say are
 
Anonymous
Kind of fun how we say different things :-)
 
Anonymous
@Araucaria I hope she comes back! I enjoy her questions :-)
 
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. Well, let's take a look at Google Image Search.
 
Anonymous
Here's a search for 青 /ao/ google.co.jp/…
 
Anonymous
Here's a search for 緑 /midori/ google.co.jp/…
 
Anonymous
12:18 AM
Let's call those 'blue' and 'green'
 
Anonymous
But!
 
Anonymous
Here's a search for 青信号 /aosiɴgoʜ/ google.co.jp/…
 
Anonymous
Here's a search for 青野菜 /aoyasai/ google.co.jp/…
 
Anonymous
Here's a search for 青汁 /aoziru/ google.co.jp/…
 
Anonymous
Historically ao covered both of what we'd call green and blue in English, and even when midori became a color word it was more a shade of ao than anything
 
Anonymous
12:26 AM
It's only in the last century that ao and midori have become generally distinguished
 
Anonymous
And ao still has some uses that English speakers would call 'green' rather than 'blue'!
 
Anonymous
Speaking of traffic lights, in English we have green-yellow-red, or possibly green-amber-red, depending on the speaker
 
Anonymous
But when I was younger I didn't call the middle light yellow or amber―I called it orange! :-)
 
Anonymous
@Iplodman Android is an OS. Ubuntu is an OS. Linux is a kernel. Both Android and Ubuntu use the Linux kernel
 
Anonymous
In common speech, "Linux" sometimes refers to a Linux-based OS, but for some reason speakers tend to say "Android" when that Linux-based OS is Android
 
Anonymous
12:32 AM
@Iplodman Here's what I think. When I look back on writing of mine from ten or even five years ago that contains pop culture references, I get a really strong urge to edit them out :-)
 
Anonymous
They date your work
 
Anonymous
But that's just me.
 
Anonymous
Then again, it's not likely that any of my writing would be described as "sophisticated" ;-)
 
Anonymous
12:58 AM
@DamkerngT. I wonder how they come up with those transcriptions
 
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. Hmm, that definition could use some work
 
Anonymous
But this image is great:
 
Anonymous
 
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. I think the definition of conjugation on Wikipedia might be misleading for people who don't know what conjugation is
 
Anonymous
The phrase "the creation of derived forms of a verb" sounds an awful lot like derivation to me, not inflection!
 
Anonymous
1:07 AM
Someone who doesn't know the difference could get rather confused when they read that phrase followed by "by inflection"!
 
Anonymous
To be honest, I simply don't talk about conjugation. I use the term inflection
 
Anonymous
There's no real need for a specialized term for the inflection of verbs
 
Anonymous
I'm also not really keen on the idea that non-finite forms are "unconjugated"
 
Anonymous
What about languages where the infinitive is formed by adding an inflectional affix?
 
Anonymous
I think the article could be written in a more language-neutral manner, actually
 
Anonymous
1:16 AM
Maybe it could use a mention of defective verbs, or of suppletion
 
Anonymous
Hmm…
 
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. Oh, the Wikipedia page for inflection is quite a bit better!
 
Anonymous
I guess there's always stuff to improve on Wikipedia, though.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
8:58 AM
@snailboat I like the cats!
 
Iplodman
Iplodman
9:28 AM
@snailboat Hallo!
I'm sure you're right about the kernel, and likewise with the writing c:
Although I'm not sure if my writing is sophisticated either :)
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
9:44 AM
@snailboat I really can't decide. Intuitively, I think I like "five thousand tons of water is" better. I mean, "five thousand tons of water" is not quite like "five thousand bottles of water".
 
 
3 hours later…
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
12:29 PM
I might be wrong (I haven't checked), but I think the OP might be thinking of "far fewer", "too few (to consider, for example)", which I think is possible, and mixed them somehow. By the same token, I also believe that "too less (to consider, etc.)" should also be possible, but perhaps it's been taken over by other simpler phrases such as "not enough to". — Damkerng T. 14 secs ago
I posted my English judgement without checking any sources. Probably not a very good idea, but I hope to convince everyone to see the problem from the OP's point of view (rather than native speakers' one). I mean, the OP's L1 must suggest to the OP that such constructions make sense, but as we and the OP know, they do not. So, imho, the real problem is how to express such non-existing ideas in good English.
 
Iplodman
Iplodman
1:21 PM
Hello again! c:
Let me read the question quickly.
I wouldn't say that excessively less makes sense in a logical way.
Maybe an excessive lack, but I don't think that *excessive is the right word here.
 
Sawarnik
Sawarnik
2:05 PM
Hi @DamkerngT.
:D
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
2:16 PM
@Sawarnik Hi!
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
2:31 PM
hi guys...
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
3:14 PM
0
A: Do you consider this as connected speech in American accent

Jim ReynoldsHere is a recording of my voice (General American / Standard American English) repeating the speech that you are working on from https://youtu.be/mu-eaxlA5jo This second recording may help to put your attention on the places where I think you sound the most different than me. There are only thr...

There. I gave Marcos a file with my golden voice pronouncing genuine, real, 100% pure American!
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Yay!
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
I think he will reproduce it, pretty much.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
nods -- I hope so. I think so.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
He appears to have the will!
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Indeed! That's why I think our room could be useful for him.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
3:17 PM
We are overachievers!!!
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Hah!
Look up cop to in Macmillan Dictionary: "to admit to something embarrassing or something you have done wrong" — snailboat 10 hours ago
Yay, all hail Macmillan Dictionary!
0
Q: Correct use of "kinda" and "somewhat"

user18905What's the difference between "kinda" and "somewhat" generally and also in these examples? 1.I'm kinda annoyed 2.I'm somewhat annoyed

conversation
I think they mean pretty much the same; somewhat is a bit more flexible. "I'm XXX somewhat" is okay, but "I'm XXX kinda" is not, not without a comma.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
3:34 PM
Kinda is a borderline word.
somewhat is formal.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
What if the OP changed kinda to kind of or sort of?
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
More widely accepted as standard.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
nods
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
But looking at "kinda", it's in some dictionaries as an adverb without special designation.
While another dictionary calls it "informal"
A dictionary "informal" = the ugly stepchildren of real words.
O.O
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I should've made it clearer about "somewhat is a bit more flexible". I meant flexible in its possible position.
@JimReynolds o_O
Sometimes, I (wrongly and too simplistically) assume that most learners can acquire the intuition to know when they should use which word or phrase automatically.
I guess it's because the way they learn English (as a second language).
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
3:46 PM
Hmm... I can't immediately decide if somewhat can be used in more sentence positions than kinda.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
"I know it somewhat" vs. "I know it kinda"
"I somewhat know it" vs. "I kinda know it"
 
 
1 hour later…
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
4:54 PM
0
Q: Is "to blend" the proper verb here?

NicolIf I wanted to say that tigers can conceal themselves in plants, is it correct to say Tigers can blend in with plants? Or should I use another verb?

word-usage
First impression: conceal, blend in with can be used. So as hide. Conceal and hide are probably safer to use in general text.
 
Freddy
Freddy
Conceal is better reader point of view
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Hello @Freddy!
 
Freddy
Freddy
Hi
No, thank you for that
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Everyone is welcome there. It's supposed to be a place to talk about and share our learning techniques, tips, and such.
 
 
2 hours later…
Mohammad
Mohammad
7:07 PM
I have a question, the question is about how to use "accumulate" word ?

is it correct to say, the Bank will begin accumulate interests on your debt?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Hello, @Mohammad!
:D
 
Mohammad
Mohammad
Hello @DamkerngT.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I think using accumulate with interests is possible. I think I'm more familiar with accrued interests.
 
MARamezani
MARamezani
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Maybe they're used a bit differently in finance context.
 
Mohammad
Mohammad
7:10 PM
Aha
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@MARamezani TeX in the title of a question?!?
 
MARamezani
MARamezani
@DamkerngT. It can be. The point is, the title doesn't contain that reaction!
0
Q: How can I balance the following equation atomically and electrically?

Jay$$\ce{C2O4^2- + MnO2 -> Mn^2+ + CO2}$$ I think that the half reactions are $$\ce{C2O4^2- -> CO2}$$ $$\ce{MnO2 -> Mn^2+}$$ I am supposed to balance these by adding water, $\ce{H+}$ atoms and by adding $\ce{e-}$’s, but I’m just not sure on the method to do this as we’ve covered it extremely qui...

electrochemistry redox stoichiometry
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Mohammad However, I think you seem to intend to use accumulate as a verb, so it doesn't work well with begin. It usually is either begin to do something or being doing something.
 
MARamezani
MARamezani
See?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@MARamezani Oh!
 
MARamezani
MARamezani
7:12 PM
Stop pinging me!
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Sorry!
 
Mohammad
Mohammad
@DamkerngT. thanks,I will ask my question on english.stackexchange.com,I could get a clean answer
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Mohammad Great idea!
@Mohammad You can post it as a question on ELL as well.
 
Mohammad
Mohammad
ok @DamkerngT. Great idea too, Thanks
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
You're welcome!
 
Mohammad
Mohammad
7:20 PM
0
Q: How canI use "accumulate" word in english?

Mohammadcould any one explain me how to use accumulate word in english and in which context. Yesterday I tried to use it as in the followig example The banks will begin accumulate intrests on debtors but somebody objected and told me thatis wrong, so please could anybody explain it for me.

meaning word-usage
 

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