English Language Learners

user116848

15:01

nvm

Anonymous

in The Overlook Hotel, 25 mins ago, by Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

"When I woke up from the coma, the nurse told me I was the president" <- not president any longer

Anonymous

You can backshift even if you're still the president

user116848

@snailboat No! You detective! Noooooo

user116848

:D

user116848

I am so ashamed now!!!

user116848

15:03

I am acting like one, I know.

user116848

slash7.com/2006/12/22/vampires

user116848

> Does he ask the same, tired questions others ask (at a rate of once or more per minute)?

user116848

No

Anonymous

> Help Vampires are almost exclusively male

Anonymous

I don't find this to be true

user116848

15:07

Sorry, I was again asking there. I read the CGEL sentences though. But everyone seems to have their own opinion on the Indirect speech matter, what can I do.

user116848

I tried to understand the jest though.

Anonymous

@Arrowfar Opinion about what?

Anonymous

There's really very little room for opinion on what we talked about recently

user116848

@snailboat About whether "I" and "you" are okay in informal chatting, like here.

user116848

in The Overlook Hotel, 41 mins ago, by Arrowfar

1) I proposed to a girl and she told me you are fake and immature...
2) I proposed to a girl and she told me I am fake and immature ...

user116848

15:09

in The Overlook Hotel, 40 mins ago, by Arrowfar

> she told me that you are not my true friend because...
she told me that I am not her true friend because....

Anonymous

oh in chat where people don't bother with punctuation or speling

Anonymous

n that cas ppl mite write things like tht

user116848

I see :-)

Anonymous

But no, it's not okay to leave out quotation marks in chat

Anonymous

It makes me cringe a bit

Anonymous

15:11

I can imagine someone doing it . . .

Damkerng T.

me 2

user116848

@snailboat But some say stuff like that, I have seen:

user116848

> she told me that you are not my true friend because...

user116848

Without quotation

user116848

But it is not a good practice I guess.

Anonymous

15:12

You can only refer to the person they're talking to

Anonymous

Quotation marks aren't being left out

Anonymous

If they're mixing indirect and direct speech it's an error

Anonymous

@Arrowfar You can't refer to the speaker here

Damkerng T.

@Arrowfar Did they write she in lowercase?

Anonymous

That rules it out

user116848

15:13

@snailboat Yeah, I know. In the Overlook chat they were mixing it up. That's why it got complex.

Damkerng T.

(I just think that it might hint something.)

Anonymous

@Arrowfar Are you talking about non-native speakers?

user116848

@snailboat I mean Mr Shiny and Matty.

Anonymous

Then I'd like to see an actual example

user116848

in The Overlook Hotel, 41 mins ago, by Matt Эллен

I assumed 1) involved three people

Anonymous

15:15

Where is the actual example?

user116848

It is here only:

user116848

in The Overlook Hotel, 48 mins ago, by Arrowfar

1) I proposed to a girl and she told me you are fake and immature...
2) I proposed to a girl and she told me I am fake and immature ...

Anonymous

Neither of these sentences has that

Anonymous

This is not the same thing as "she told me that you are not my true friend because..."

user116848

I see. So, without 'that' it looks like there are three people here?

user116848

15:17

I don't think so.

user116848

Let me google....

Anonymous

Both with and without that, 1) looks like there are three people

Anonymous

But!

Anonymous

If you read 1) and in context it made sense that there were only two people

Damkerng T.

> "NO! I will not forgive you and I am not in love with him. I have these certain feelings for him that I can't explain so therefor my mom was right when she told me that you are not my true friend because if you were, you would not be dating Alec. Maci, you are not ready for true friends and you are not ready for a serious relationship." I said with anger in my voice then I turned back to the white board in math and tried to pay attention to Ms.P instead of the bitch beside me.

Anonymous

15:17

Because the proper reading doesn't make sense

Anonymous

Then you could simply assume that the author wrote the sentence wrong

Anonymous

And that there are only two people

Damkerng T.

I found just one hit for "she told me that you are not my true friend because".

I think this you means you, as usual.

Anonymous

Anyway, I'm not seeing anything that disagreed with what I wrote yesterday

Anonymous

I see no alternative opinions except yours, so far . . .

user116848

15:20

@snailboat It's clear now. My only confusion was when I heard about 'two' or 'three' people stuff.

user116848

I only thought of it as a 'two' persons' conversation.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Yeah, there's nothing strange about you there

user116848

@snailboat How did you find out that I have been to the Overlook chat?

user116848

:p

user116848

I know it is present in 'recent'

Anonymous

15:25

@Arrowfar Besides the fact that you quote a message from it once a week? :-)

Anonymous

chat.stackexchange.com/users/116848/arrowfar

user116848

But 'whiny help vampire'?

Anonymous

Take a look at your chat profile. Click on "recent"

user116848

okay. right :)

Anonymous

But without using your profile, the only two places I'd know to check are ELU chat (which I checked first) and there

Anonymous

15:26

It's all public information

user116848

nods :)

Anonymous

@Arrowfar I can't read minds, so I don't know if it was intended as an insult or just another example with a negative connotation, just like your own before it

Anonymous

And I don't know that person.

Anonymous

So I have no idea what they think about you.

user116848

@snailboat " ....just like your own before it" Sorry??

Anonymous

15:28

@Arrowfar Your reported speech was "you are fake and immature"

Anonymous

And another one was "You are not my true friend"

Anonymous

So you set up a pattern of "X told Y <something negative>"

user116848

@snailboat Oh, no. So both are true you think?

user116848

okay.

Anonymous

What?

Anonymous

15:30

I don't see any significance in those example sentences, no

user116848

I am saying Negative connotation was true in my example in your opinion?

Anonymous

I don't understand

user116848

Nevermind

Damkerng T.

@Arrowfar That's not very clear.

Anonymous

"You are fake and immature" is a sentence with a negative connotation

user116848

15:31

I see

Anonymous

"You are warm and friendly" is a sentence with a positive connotation

user116848

I thought you were saying like what Mr Shiny hinted that I am a help vampire.

Anonymous

I said nothing of the kind

user116848

Yeah, my bad :D

user116848

16:10

What are some best blog sites on the internet to master the art of conversation in English? Is Wattpad good? @snailboat

user116848

It has many such example sentences when I google.

Anonymous

I don't know. I read Language Log

user116848

What's Language Log?

Anonymous

But it's not really aimed at mastering the art of conversation

Anonymous

It's just a blog

user116848

16:12

But if it has conversations, then well and good for me

user116848

I'll take a look...

Anonymous

No, it's more of a blog

user116848

And Wattpad?

Anonymous

I don't know, I've never heard of it

user116848

Films are good for that too I guess.

user116848

16:16

@snailboat Have you written any stories in Language Log?

user116848

Kitfox is on Wordpress.

user116848

Matt is on tumbler

user116848

etc. etc.

Damkerng T.

16:28

FWIW, mastering the art of conversation is not really about language learning.

Language learners usually forget that they need to do exactly the same thing in their L1 too.

I would say, just sound like yourself in L1 and you should be fine.

(Given that you are also fine in L1.)

Awal Garg

17:04

Hello

I have a question

> XXX would be an awesome platform for me to help and mentor people, and use my knowledge for ...

I have to complete this sentence with something that I can't remember right now. Any idea?

It suggests that help those who have been in my footsteps (i.e. when I was learning the same thing).

@DamkerngT. hey dude! long time?

user116848

18:29

@DamkerngT. Oh, I am good in L1 :-)

user116848

I am okay in L2 too. Which is English

user116848

19:03

No one liked my recent answer that I gave yesterday.

user116848

Maybe it was a general question.

user116848

The OP got many suggestions though

user116848

Yesterday, I saw that some folks asked the same questions on both ELU and ELL. Exact copy, but with different user names.

user116848

I saw a couple of such questions.

user116848

They got closed votes after a while.

user116848

19:23

I hate this article: slash7.com/2006/12/22/vampires

user116848

The writer thinks of herself as a self-righteous person.

user116848

No one deliberately tries to be a vamp. It is a ridiculous concept.

user116848

I didn't even know this word existed until Shiny said it in the Overlook chat.

user116848

Stupid self righteous folks trying to call us vamps

user116848

Nevermind.

Ice Boy

21:00

it looks like cerberus has taken this room off his favorites list @DamkerngT.

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