English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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user208178

00:12

ok nice chatting. It is 5:11 am here so I'll continue my other half sleep now.

user208178

@Mitch you are right. well it is fun too. also I use a pseudonym there just like here so I am anonymous.

user208178

Laters.

tchrist

00:29

@Mitch get a mac

Mitch

01:00

@tchrist embarrasses because has a mac

But that's exactly the problem. I have to install a new keyboard mapper or remember some codes. And I can never remember the codes.

Wait....sometimes I can hold down a key and get alternates with different accentsę

Stack

I have a big problem with "times in English". For example what's the different of these?

- To check the number of emails have sent
- To check the number of emails have been sent
- To check the number of emails were sent
- To check the number of emails are sent

Cerberus

@tchrist It is easier on Windows.

Just use Autohotkey.

@Stack You need that in all of those sentences.

You can't leave out that if that is the subject of the relative clause.

Stack

@Cerberus Like this? "To check the number of that emails have sent" ?

Cerberus

No, after emails.

Stack

Ah ..

Cerberus

01:07

> ~~To check the number of emails that have sent.~~ This means the emails are sending something, because have sent is active.

> To check the number of emails that have been sent. Perfect!

> To check the number of emails that were sent. Correct, but it means you're talking about the emails that were sent during a specific period of time—a period that you have already mentioned or that the reader knows of.

> ?To check the number of emails that are sent. This is incomplete; I would expect by someone if you use a form of be + past participle. Or I would expect an indication of frequency, like every Tuesday or yearly.

Stack

@Cerberus ohhh I see

@Cerberus English is your native?

Cerberus

No.

Stack

well you are really good in it

Cerberus

Gracias.

Stack

@Cerberus this is Spanish?

Cerberus

01:14

Sí.

11 hours later…

fi12

12:30

@BiscuitBoy I noticed in your bio that your speak Tamil, so I thought I'd just drop in to say that there is an Area 51 proposal for a Tamil language SE, just thought you might want to follow that :)

RegDwigнt

13:17

@MετάEd to learn new shit. There's enough echo chambers on the Internet.

Matt E. Эллен

13:29

for some reason this works in Chrome but not Firefox

TIPS

meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/8136/… -- @Rath you have mastered most arts but certainly not the dont-engage art.

@MattE.Эллен What's it supposed to do? Shoot fast and slow SEGA bullets?

Matt E. Эллен

@TIPS yeah, it's a scrolling background

TIPS

@MattE.Эллен Hmph, on FF, it turns on and off.

Just when I thought nothing would make me blink anymore.

Matt E. Эллен