English Language Learners

infinitesimal

07:33

fivebooks.com/interviews/dan-everett-on-language-and-thought

CopperKettle

08:08

@infinitesimal I heard about his controversy. I still can't imagine a language without numbers

Maybe I should read the article, or at list skim through't

Hanaa

08:39

Hi

Man_From_India

hi @Hanaa

Hanaa

I am in the bus, going home:D

Man_From_India

Again :-O

oh I think it's exam break

right?

Hanaa

Yes

Man_From_India

Oh that's great...how long it's off?

Hanaa

08:51

We will have the other five modules next week

We start on sunday

Man_From_India

ohh I see

Hanaa

It is sunny weather here

A beautiful sunny week

Man_From_India

Here it's same...but not that cold

it's what we call temperate weather :-)

Hanaa

The same here

Man_From_India

All snow melted down the rivers :-)

Hanaa

08:58

Yes

Melted down the rivers to the water barriers

I don't know the exact word for water barriers

CopperKettle

Hi, @Hanaa, @Man_From_India

@Hanaa What do they look like?

Hanaa

Hi @CopperKettle

CopperKettle

@Hanaa Are they embankments - the barriers that don't allow the river bed to erode?

Man_From_India

Hi @CopperKettle

I was just looking for you :-)

CopperKettle

@Man_From_India (0:

Hanaa

09:03

They are built to gather water to be used by the city

Man_From_India

Yes I wanted to discuss about this question

2

Q: what does "can" and "more than" refer to?

It is generally the case that there is no "natural" connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. The connection is quite arbitrary. We can't just look at the Arabic word vJ^ and, from its shape, for example, determine that it has a natural and obvious meaning any more than we can with...

sentence-construction

because all the answers don't say what I think it should say :-)

what do you think?

CopperKettle

@Man_From_India I'll take a look. I've just finished answering another question.

Man_From_India

oh sure...just take your time ...no hurry at all :-)

Hanaa

Could u answer me first?

CopperKettle

Because I'm now reading about telic/atelic, the question came in handy.

@Hanaa Yes. About the barriers?

Hanaa

09:05

Yes

Man_From_India

As Copperkettle said embankment is a nice word

Hanaa

No

It is like a lake but built not natural

CopperKettle

Aryk

In Central Asia, an aryk (Turkic: arıq; Russian: арык) is a relatively small aqueduct supporting agriculture and providing water to inhabitants of the area. Various Aryks still exist and are frequently used, such as that of Tabarja, which has been continuously upgraded and expanded since the 16th century....

Do they look like this?

Hanaa

It distributs water to diffent cities

Man_From_India

canal?

CopperKettle

09:07

Aqueduct (water supply)

An aqueduct is a watercourse constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term aqueduct is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose. The term aqueduct also often refers specifically to a bridge on an artificial watercourse. The word is derived from the Latin aqua ("water") and ducere ("to lead"). Aqueducts were used by the Ancient Greeks, Ancient Egyptians, and Romans. In modern times, the largest aqueducts of all have been built in the United States to supply the country's biggest cities. The simplest aqueducts are small ditches...

Hanaa

No

CopperKettle

You can find an article in an arabic language wikipedia and then select the interwiki link in English

Hanaa

A ha ok

Thank u!

CopperKettle

No problem (0:

Ilan

10:13

@DamkerngT. hi :) how are you? A little question: how should I say if something happened in the year 1900? I mean which wording should I use for 1900?

Damkerng T.

@Ilan The simplest expression is "in 1900".

Ilan

no

what is the wording for 1900?

how do you prononciate this?

"1900"

Damkerng T.

Oh, okay. I usually pronounce 1900 "nineteen hundred".

Ilan

"In nineteen hundred there were 3 people with two heads"

if I say it this way will I be understandable?

Damkerng T.

Yes.

Ilan

10:23

thanks!

great :)

Damkerng T.

Maybe if you want to write it spelled out like that, a hyphen will be nice "nineteen-hundred".

You're welcome!

Ilan

just wanted to know how to say

thanks a lot

Damkerng T.

:D

Now I'm wondering about those two-headed people! :P

Probably like the giant in the middle. :D

Ilan

yes

they exist

Damkerng T.

Oh, you mean it's real!

Ilan

10:28

yes

Damkerng T.

Aww

Gotta go. BBL

Ilan

bye bye :)

Hanaa

10:49

Hi :)

Happy to see u again @DamkerngT.

abdelaziz maroc

11:15

hi

Damkerng T.

12:34

@CopperKettle When someone said, "Просто подставка, ничего другого не могу сказать", was it a good or bad opinion for the product?

@abdelazizmaroc Hi!

infinitesimal

12:58

Hi pal :-)

MARamezani

13:16

Hi guys.

Man_From_India

hi @MARamezani

MARamezani

I had a trivial question that I didn't see the need to post in ELL.

Man_From_India

sure I will try...

go ahead

MARamezani

Look at the tab of hot questions. This questiongirl&utm_campaign=math.stackexchange.‌com-promo&utm_content=1143716

Ah nuts. I meant this.

Man_From_India

Ahh both are directing to the same question :-)

MARamezani

13:20

Ah, the first I posted was like that and I reposted it.In it I see the guy said: "Asked to my nephew."

"Asked to"? I've searched the Net and didn't find similar structure.

And sorry for the lousy spelling and stuff. I'm touching my mobile, not typing with my laptop.

Man_From_India

I think there is no problem with the spelling...

MARamezani

Just in case...

Man_From_India

give me some time...i think there is no problem...but let me think before saying it

MARamezani

Anyways, is "asked" being followed by "to" correct and grammatical?

Man_From_India

yes it is here

MARamezani

13:24

Yes what is here?

Man_From_India

I mean this sentence is correct....somebody asked the question to his nephew.

And the sentence is passive

The question was asked to his nephew

MARamezani

Why not "from"? Or "of"?

Man_From_India

Active voice: **Somebody asked the question to his nephew**
Passive voice: **The question was asked (by somebody) to his nephew**

from and of doesn't sound correct, may be it sounds like it's direct translation from other language

MARamezani

I'm going now. I'll be back and we'll either nag about it or I'll post something. :)

Bye.

Man_From_India

sure..u can post it on ELL

CopperKettle

13:32

@DamkerngT. Good evening! Was it a rack? I mean, the product?

@DamkerngT. - the translation is: "This is just a support rack, there's nothing more to say"

@DamkerngT. "Просто подставка, ничего другого не могу сказать" - the key here is the letter k

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle Ah, thanks! It's an iPad stand. :-)

CopperKettle

If the word had no letter k, the whole meaning would've changed.

Damkerng T.

Oh, what would it become?

CopperKettle

The changed meaning would've been "This is just a swindle, nothing more to say about it"

Damkerng T.

Hah!

Man_From_India

13:36

Hi @CopperKettle and @DamkerngT., just now MARamezan asked a question. In The question was asked to his nephew, why not from or of in place of to? Can you help?

CopperKettle

"подстава" is swindle, "подставка" is a support rack

Damkerng T.

Ahh... I think they didn't mean swindle, then. Phew!

Hmm... I think it's sort of like The question was asked to his nephew (by his uncle), perhaps?

Man_From_India

yes that is ture...but he asked why not from or of in place of to?

Damkerng T.

asked from would sound wrong.

asked of is interesting.

Man_From_India

I think that is incorrect...or it might sound as a direct translation from another language.

Damkerng T.

13:39

I think asked of might be possible, but it would mean something else.

@Man_From_India Possibly.

Man_From_India

BNC shows asked of is also possible

Damkerng T.

I'm not sure if it would really make sense in that sentence.

Related: english.stackexchange.com/questions/38136/meaning-of-ask-of

It could make sense, I think. (After trying to wrap my head around it several times.)

Man_From_India

but not that common I guess

Damkerng T.

nods -- I think ask of with the passive voice makes it really uncommon.

Man_From_India

There in those example the meaning of ask is demand

CopperKettle

13:46

@DamkerngT. - do you by chance know if snailboat's okay? I've not seen her in the chat for some time.

Man_From_India

so in this sentence that meaning is not possible, i think ask of here is not possible :-(

Damkerng T.

I think it's only about two days. I don't know how she is doing, either. Maybe she's just busy. (I hope.)

CopperKettle

Oh, it's okay. Maybe she'd decided to read something tough (0:

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India I'd just say it's quite unlikely.

Man_From_India

yes I also haven't seen her for quite sometime

CopperKettle

13:49

"The question was asked to his nephew" - out of whack.

I would say "the question was posed to his nephew" (and probably I'd check in Google beforehand)

(Had I wanted to retain that to)

BBL!

Damkerng T.

Hmm... I think to is necessary because of the passive voice.

posed to is also fine, of course.

Man_From_India

yes

ahh @DamkerngT. you remember that day I faced similar situation with preach. I was not sure whether to omit to in passive voice with preach. And snailboat correct me that that to is obligatory.

Damkerng T.

Ah, I remember.

Some verbs require to even in the active voice.

The most common one is perhaps suggest.

Man_From_India

hmm

Ohh wanted to discuss this question with you as well...hope u r not busy

how to better explain this question.

2

Q: "We can't do this any more than we can do that" - meaning?

It is generally the case that there is no "natural" connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. The connection is quite arbitrary. We can't just look at the Arabic word vJ^ and, from its shape, for example, determine that it has a natural and obvious meaning any more than we can with...

sentence-construction

Damkerng T.

Ah, I think your explanation is good. (I upvoted it. :-)

Man_From_India

13:56

But the problem with it is that it really sounds like we are dealing with logic

not the language

Damkerng T.

The book is The Study Of Language, so that is to be expected, I think. :-)

It's obviously an assertion.

Man_From_India

:-)

Damkerng T.

I think at least almost everyone would agree with his assertion. :D

Man_From_India

correct :-)

Damkerng T.

It looks like nima had a problem with the parsing (of that sentence).

Man_From_India

14:01

seems so. but at the same time it's necessary to understand the underlying construction, so that he can write similar sentence on his own without making any error

Damkerng T.

Hmm... I remember that Automata looks a bit cooler than in the trailer I just saw on TV a moment ago.

@Man_From_India nods -- Parsing is very important, especially for writing, I'd say.

Man_From_India

A movie?

Damkerng T.

Yes. I think I've seen its trailer on YouTube last year.

Which looked unlike what I just saw a moment ago.

I might change my mind again after watching the movie. :-)

Man_From_India

ohh is that a good movie? which genre?

Damkerng T.

Sci-fi. Iirc, the director is the same guy who did District 9.

Man_From_India

14:04

ahh good...i will also try to catch it :-)

Damkerng T.

Yay!

I'm going to get something to eat. BBL

Man_From_India

sure :-)

Damkerng T.

16:14

"How long can one use an iPad with a cracked screen?" "Apparently, it's almost a year already! (Still looking good!)"

Man_From_India

:-O

A book I am currently reading I found a sentence - How very French!! I can't understand the meaning. does it mean "it is typical of french"? The context is "The lawyer found the accused is not guilty. But apparently she made the crime. The public think the lawyer likes her".

Damkerng T.

"How very French!" could hint at many different things. Its exact meaning would be clear in the context. (I think I'll need specific lines, to be sure.)

Basically, it means that whatever happened or whoever mentioned reminds that speaker of "French".

Man_From_India

I think I got it. Can't remember the exact line. But yes it's clear now.

CopperKettle

17:48

@DamkerngT. - I was reading this page about learning, specifically "Linking cognitive science to education: Generation and interleaving effects", and recalled your "great imitation" technique..

Damkerng T.

18:18

@CopperKettle Nice! I wonder if we really need to learn from cognitive science that imitation really works. I mean most non-native speakers who can become fluent in speaking another language without having lived in a place that allows them to be in close and regular contact with native speakers must already know about this. They are the successful learners, even with their own disadvantages. And they are the evidence.

Hanaa

19:18

Hello all !

Damkerng T.

19:32

Hello, @Hana!

Hanaa

I wanted to tell @Man_From_India that snow goes down rivers and dams but only now that i found the word dam

Damkerng T.

Dam is good, I think. It's a common word for water reservoirs.

Hanaa

yes

Anonymous

20:27

@CopperKettle I'm fine, no need to worry about me :-)

Anonymous

By the way, that asked to earlier is ungrammatical

Anonymous

Asked of is okay, but more common would be no preposition

Anonymous

The of version doesn't work all the time.

Damkerng T.

22:04

@snailboat Nice to see you again!

@snailboat Oh, even in the passive? "We asked him the question." --> "The question was asked to him."?

Or (is it the case that) we simply can't have ask in passive?

Hmm... looks like there are plenty of examples of (question) was asked him on Google Books.

Maybe not that plenty. Just 106 results.

Still better than 22 results of was asked to him.

Interesting. I just realized that "*they asked the question to him" doesn't work.

Bob the zealot

22:21

@DamkerngT. hi

Damkerng T.

Hi!

Bob the zealot

sorry bye

infinitesimal

22:39

Hi pal

Transcript for

English Language Learners