English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

1:38 AM

@Cerberus That's to include things that are 'state'-like. No, I'm having trouble thinking specifically of something state-like that is not a state. The Catholic Church? uh... Interpol? (all these things I learn from James Bond movies)

tchrist

2:06 AM

@Cerberus Might you know how this came to pass?

21

Q: Preterit of ser and ir

Español Pretérito de ser: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron Pretérito de ir: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron ¿Cómo han evolucionado los verbos "ser" e "ir" para tener la misma conjugación en el pretérito (y también en el imperfecto y el futuro de subjuntivo)? ¿Y p...

2

Q: Por que foi que «ir» e «ser» ficaram iguais no Pretérito Perfeito?

Uma curiosidade que o português tem em comum com o castelhano é que o Pretérito Perfeito dos verbos ser e ir são iguais, quanto na escritura e na pronúncia: fui, foste, foi, fomos, fostes, foram (no português). Mas foi de ir e foi de ser não têm o mesmo significado, não é? Como é que isto aconte...

etimologia conjugações

The first has an English translation.

The answer on es.se doesn’t really do much to answer the question, just restating it.

I'm thinking that there's no way in Iberian languages to confuse the permanent be with go.

When I was a kid I tried to come up with a sentence where you could swap in was for went or vice versa, and it screw up the meaning but still be valid.

I never could find one in Spanish, because the collisions would seem to need to other form of be, namely estar.

I went there: Fui allí.

And yes, fui means I was, but that doesn’t take that kind of complement. You would use for a permanent thing. So you cannot say fui allí and it ever not mean I went there. For I was there, you have to say estuve allí.

The same is true in Portuguese.

muses about passé simple en français.

Shafizadeh

8:31 AM

@Cerberus You are right ... thank you

Shafizadeh

9:38 AM

"Typo problem is what I faced with it all the time" is a correct sentence?

Gofun Dake

10:08 AM

Hello, world. I have a question. I stumbled upon this sentences=> ' We went to an awful party last night. Ugh, the music was bad, the people were boring, and the food was terrible' and ' Carrie works for an amazing organization; the organization provides food and supplies for children in the developing world'. In the first sentence we have 'the food', because it's about the food from the awful party

and in the second sentence there is just 'food' in general, no article because 'food' is uncountable noun, right? Before, I thought uncountable nouns like water, ice, oxygen etc just don't need any article definite or indefinite.

Cerberus

10:24 AM

@Shafizadeh I'm afraid not.

> I make typos all the time.

@GofunDake That's not right: uncountable nouns take "the" just like countable nouns, but they never take "a/an".

And they are never pluralised.

Gofun Dake

Ok, thank you

Cerberus

Your explanation of the first example is correct.

Shafizadeh

@Cerberus tnx

@Cerberus just one thing, what is the meaning of "afraid not"? It means something like "I hardly think so" ?

Cerberus

@GofunDake In the second example, "the food and supplies for children in the developing world" is possible, but that implies that there is a special kind of food for children in the developing world. However, it makes more sense to say all people eat food, and we're not thinking of any specific kind of food here.

@Shafizadeh It means, "my answer is no, but I wish my answer were yes".

I'm afraid [that]... more or less means "I'm not happy about the fact that I have to say no to you, because it is nicer to say yes, or because yes would make you happier than no".

Gofun Dake

Yeah, thank you, it's just like I thought, although in my native language we just rely on the context and don't use articles with uncountable nouns, so I automatically thought it would be the same in English. Thank you for clarifying it for me.

Cerberus

10:33 AM

Ah, I'm afraid articles work somewhat differently in English.

They're notoriously difficult (as in many other languages...).

Shafizadeh

@Cerberus ow, good explanation for "afraid not", tnx

Cerberus

@Mitch If you call those things "state actors", then it is even worse than I thought. Not only ugly, but horribly imprecise, to the point of being utterly useless.

Matt E. Эллен

Was Bob Hope a state actor? He did all that work for the troops...

Cerberus

@tchrist Weird. I had no idea! Most frivolous of them.

@MattE.Эллен Yeah it makes me think of state television.

tchrist

Verbally parsimonious.

Matt E. Эллен

10:39 AM

@Cerberus ah! the good old BBC ;)

tchrist

The weather forecast is the same for tonight and tonight. I wonder whether that means they got lazy, or if it will really happen twice.

Has there been any snow to speak of in England this winter?

user174558

I just watched The 5th Wave, great new movie.

Matt E. Эллен

@tchrist yes. up north there was a fair amount. The midlands had a bit, in the middle of Jan. Down south I don't think there was any

user174558

There is no snow here, only sun.

Matt E. Эллен

@Jasper is it different to any of the other post-apocalyptic, young adult films that have been made in the last decade?

tchrist

10:48 AM

So many teenager films.

user174558

@MattE.Эллен Well, I did not watch any other such movie, so I don't know. But the actress is pretty and the actor is handsome, so it is worth watching...

Matt E. Эллен

@Jasper :D fair enough

user174558

@MattE.Эллен Actually, the story is pretty good.

user174558

I also just watched Solace, great new movie.

user174558

I also just watched Exposed, great new movie.

user174558

10:50 AM

So I recommend you watch these three.

tchrist

Not possible.

Strikes not lightning in the same place thrice.

user174558

Each of these three movies had several plot twists.

tchrist

I'm glad you were entertained.

user174558

Yup.

user116848

'afternoon!

user174558

10:54 AM

Evening.

Matt E. Эллен

seems like 5th Wave is V without the diplomacy, and made to look like a zombie film.

could be interesting

user174558

@MattE.Эллен What is V without diplomacy???

Matt E. Эллен

@Jasper V was a TV show where aliens appear over the skies of the world and pretend to be friendly, while prepping humanity to become their next food source (I think, something bad, anyway) and they infiltrate humanity by stealing identities

in 5th wave they seem to have foregone the diplomacy

user174558

Ah, not V for Vendetta, LOL.

Matt E. Эллен

at least that's what the trailer suggests

@Jasper :D no

user174558

11:06 AM

The actress also starred in If I Stay, a very good movie a few years back.

user174558

I think I am in love with her, LOL.

Matt E. Эллен

lol

ah! she's the one from Kick-ass

user174558

Oh dear, I should not fall in love with people who are so young, LOL, since I am so old...

user174558

I think I should forget about finding Maria. I think there never will be a Maria for me.

user174558

Next Mon is Chinese New Year.

user174558

11:18 AM

Amazon prices seem to be increasing. Maybe there is a change of leadership...

Kit Z. Fox

12:36 PM

Good morning.

@MετάEd I know, right? You should let balpha know you like it.

user174558

1:30 PM

@KitZ.Fox Hello!

user174558

I see Ricky has been suspended for a year. He must have done something serious this time.

user174558

Oh I see what he has done now, LOL.

user174558

One year is pretty long. On math, someone got a one year suspension for voting irregularities.

Kit Z. Fox

Suspensions are progressively longer.

Also, hello.

user174558

Initially I thought Ricky is Rathony, but seems they are different.

Matt E. Эллен

1:45 PM

hi!

user174558

It's so hot here that I am sweating at night at home with the air-conditioner.

user174558

It must be my presence, LOL.

user174558

I think Ricky must have been drunk when he typed the meta question.

Kit Z. Fox

@MattE.Эллен Hi!

user174558

I like how you added 'focused question', LOL.

Matt E. Эллен

1:52 PM

@KitZ.Fox hi!

@Jasper best not to speculate on other's states of minds when they're not here to explain themselves

Kit Z. Fox

I'm doing training right now.

user174558

I think you must be the trainee and not the trainer.

Kit Z. Fox

It's discussing how to decide and plan how to make an Agile effort.

hahahahahaha

sigh

user174558

What is an Agile effort?

Matt E. Эллен

an Agile effort :D

user174558

1:54 PM

an = and ? LOL

Matt E. Эллен

@Jasper it's where you try to adapt to situations as they arise, and get given a gold star

Kit Z. Fox

It's a software development methodology.

Matt E. Эллен

@Jasper yes

Kit Z. Fox

And of all the stuff I've read, every single thing has said "make sure your team has training and a plan to switch to agile".

user174558

Ah. I hate all these 'training programs' that teach you nothing but pass off rubbish as some deep stuff.

Kit Z. Fox

1:55 PM

"Because it's a really bad idea to just do it."

Matt E. Эллен

@Jasper the conjunction has taken on a role as an indefinite pronoun. Don't limit me with your prescriptivist dogma!

Kit Z. Fox

haha

user174558

Today on the train I saw someone who looked like someone I knew long ago. She was very pretty.

user174558

I sat opposite her and took several peeks without her noticing. End of story.

Kit Z. Fox

cool story, bro.

user174558

1:58 PM

Thanks, sis.

user174558

Actually, Ricky's question on opinion vs fact, though migrated to meta, also belongs on main.

user174558

But it might be better asked on Philosophy SE.

user174558

Just like Causation vs Correlation.

user174558

On the train here, nine out of ten people will be looking at their cell phones. I will be looking at them.

Matt E. Эллен

do only nine people get to use the train?

user174558

2:03 PM

I get a strange feeling whenever I see German words. Maybe I was German in my previous life.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…