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Mitch
Mitch
01:52
@Sᴋᴜʟʟᴘᴇᴛʀᴏʟ my vague impression was that it was a metaphorical invention to describe the color of some of the buildings at oxford or Cambridge. Something about Portland or marble.
@JasperLoy I don't think I need to explain to you that cockroaches and agendas may seem similar, they are quite distinct
Færd
Færd
02:35
So food products can have expiration dates but can't expire. Hmm.
Færd
Færd
02:59
Expedient, expedite, and expedition are very different fruits stemming from the same roots.
tchrist
tchrist
> expede [v.]
‖ ex pede Herculem [n.]
¶ expediate [v.]
† exˈpediate [adj.]
expedience [n.]
expediency [n.]
expedient [adj.]
expediential [adj.]
expediˈentially [adv.] ← expediential
exˈpediently [adv.]
› expedient-monger ← expedient
exˈpedientness ← expedient
expediment [n.]
exˈpeding [vbl. n.] ← expede
† exˈpedit [n.]
expeditable [adj.]
† exˈpeditate [pple.]
expeditate [v.]
exˈpeditated [ppl. adj.] ← expeditate
exˈpeditating [n.] ← expeditate
expediˈtation [n.]
† ˈexpedite [adj.]
expedite [v.]
Færd
Færd
Oooh.
 
2 hours later…
Tonepoet
Tonepoet
04:41
@Hellion Dear Minnesota, borrow me your ears, your minds, your mouths and your pens, for I have a fabulous new word for you all to learn! It's called lend!
I feel sorry for you.
 
1 hour later…
Jasper Loy
Jasper Loy
05:59
@Tonepoet Why Minnesota?
@Mick The Lambie comment sounds a little mean to me. I wanted to tell him off but refrained from it.
Tonepoet
Tonepoet
06:41
@JasperLoy Hellion's post in the linked meta-thread should show why. XP.
SmokeDetector
SmokeDetector
07:18
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Title has only one unique char: ----------------------------------------------------- by tymaam on english.SE
SmokeDetector
SmokeDetector
07:54
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Blacklisted user: Sgjkkllpkjnbfdbjijgnjkoggnnok by tymaam on english.SE
Martin Sleziak
Martin Sleziak
I suppose that the situation above will be sorted soon anyway - since many users see messages by SD in this room.
However, what would be a reasonable thing to do by regular users?
Low rep users cannot rollback - I guess it is only after 2k, with full edit privileges. Would suggested edit with using the source of a previous revision be way to go?
I went for flagging for moderators attention. (Although it is probably redundant - considering that the question already caught attention of users with sufficient rep to rollback.)
SmokeDetector
SmokeDetector
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Blacklisted user: English equivalent of 'TY?' by tymaam on english.SE
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Blacklisted user: ory:2017 in Somalia]] [[Category:February 2017 events in Afri by tymaam on english.SE
 
2 hours later…
Jasper Loy
Jasper Loy
09:58
@MartinSleziak Not everything needs to be sorted out on SE. It is not even so in real life. =)
englishstudent
englishstudent
10:32
I have a grammar question: Is this sentence grammatical "I find that question of yours insensitive"?
Ping me.
Jasper Loy
Jasper Loy
11:06
@englishstudent Yes, it is grammatical.
 
2 hours later…
J doh
J doh
12:52
should the final two words be hyphenated in the following sentence?

Development of a User Friendly Mobile Application Enabling Visual Note Taking

Thank you
user8469759
user8469759
13:26
Hello guys
J doh
J doh
14:03
hello
skill patrol
skill patrol
hi
user8469759
user8469759
hi guys again
out of curiosity
what's the distinction among sentences, phrases and clauses?
skill patrol
skill patrol
4
Q: "Clause" vs. "phrase" vs. "sentence"

fronthem Possible Duplicate: What is the difference between a phrase and a clause? Can you give me an easy description of the differences in meaning between clause, phrase, and sentence?

meaning nouns
user8469759
user8469759
what are the other structural units mentioned in the answer?
J doh
J doh
14:34
Hello. Are 'wh-' question words really adverbs? They seem different to my little Sunday-brain.
Krishn Shweta
Krishn Shweta
14:53
Hellos!!!
I was trying to understand the difference between I edited my message and I've edited my message
Which one is grammatically correct?
user8469759
user8469759
Aren't they both correct?
Krishn Shweta
Krishn Shweta
Seems correct but not really sure. Being poor in grammar ^^
@user8469759 Can I assume them similar?
user8469759
user8469759
If you're kind of telling a story I would use the past simple
like
"yesterday I did this, I did that and at last I edited my message"
"I've edited" to me sounds a bit more vague, in terms in when (time) it happened
so it actually depends from the whole sentence
(again... to me)
Krishn Shweta
Krishn Shweta
15:10
Okay...
@user8469759 Thanks!!
Jasper Loy
Jasper Loy
15:39
@user8469759 Have you consulted a grammar book? Best to learn grammar from a book.
user8469759
user8469759
I usually do that, yes, why?
Anonymous
@Jdoh A very good question! :-)
Anonymous
In fact, not all wh-words work the same way grammatically.
J doh
J doh
how about when used at the start of a sentence eg. 'where are you from?' 'when ere you born?' 'why are you so beautiful?' etc?
Anonymous
For example, where tends to have a functional distribution similar to a preposition phrase.
Anonymous
15:50
> Where did you go? I went to New York.
Anonymous
But in traditional grammar, a preposition must have a complement (it is pre-positioned behind a noun phrase).
Anonymous
So they can't call where a preposition. They lump it in with the adverbs instead, since those don't take complements.
Anonymous
In post-Jespersen grammar, it would be an intransitive preposition – a preposition which does not take a complement. In other words, where by itself is a preposition phrase.
Anonymous
> What are you eating? I'm eating an apple.
Anonymous
But this is neither adverb nor preposition.
J doh
J doh
15:53
and it seems to function as a noun, to my mind, "you went where?" [angry voice]
Anonymous
Noun is not a function.
Anonymous
Noun is a part of speech.
J doh
J doh
Yep. Sorry. 11pm on a Sunday...
Anonymous
Nouns can do various things. They can be subjects or direct objects, for example.
Anonymous
"Subject" and "direct object" are examples of functions.
Anonymous
15:54
Although strictly speaking, the noun itself doesn't do that.
Anonymous
The entire noun phrase functions as a subject or a direct object.
Anonymous
An apple is not a noun – it is a noun phrase.
J doh
J doh
yep. i did / do kow that :)
Anonymous
And in the sentence "I'm eating an apple", it is the direct object of the verb eat (in the form eating).
J doh
J doh
As an ESL teacher, we usually teach 'question words' as their own category as opposed ot confusing students with technicalities of adverbs but I was interested.
Anonymous
15:55
If we make this interrogative:
Anonymous
> I'm eating what?
Anonymous
Now we have an in-situ wh-question.
Anonymous
The pronoun what is functioning as a direct object.
Anonymous
Normally, it is fronted, and the subject and auxiliary are inverted:
Anonymous
> What am I eating?
Anonymous
15:57
But depending on your theory, you either say it is still the direct object after being fronted, or you say it is coindexed with a gap in object position.
Anonymous
There are no adverbs here.
Anonymous
> I went to New York.
> You went where?
Anonymous
Where is not a noun or a pronoun here.
Anonymous
In traditional grammar, it would be called an adverb (as we talked about before).
Anonymous
It is performing the same function as the preposition phrase to New York.
Anonymous
15:58
It is a locative complement.
J doh
J doh
Thank you. A wonderful explanation
Anonymous
So you have to look at the wh-words one by one and see what they do.
Anonymous
> Which song do you like best?
Anonymous
> I like this song.
Anonymous
This is a determiner rather than an adverb.
Anonymous
16:03
In-situ:
Anonymous
> You like which song best?
Anonymous
The noun phrase which song is functioning as a direct object, and within that phrase, which is a determiner.
Cerberus
Cerberus
@snailplane I would call where a interrogative pronominal adverb or an adverbial interrogative pronoun!
By the way, "post-Jespersen grammar" sounds a bit broad: it is only one school that would call it a preposition.
Everyone else still would not call it a preposition.
But of course any choice every choice that is consistent and supported by good arguments is valid.
J doh
J doh
Thank you very much. Certainly enough depth for me to understand / read a few key terms
Cerberus
Cerberus
I do wish they'd picked a different word than "preposition" for their new category, though.
user8469759
user8469759
16:09
user image
Hi guys
from that tablw
taken from the Longman grammar book
I can't understand the difference among all the pronounce
sorry
I meant pronouns
For example what's the difference between who and whom?
I can apparently use them both for referring to an object in a main clause
is that right?
(I'm not sure how that table is supposed to be read)
Anonymous
@user8469759 Over time, the tendency in English has been toward using who in all positions. Whom is now markedly formal, and it is most commonly found when it is the complement of a fronted preposition, probably because fronting prepositions is itself markedly formal.
Anonymous
Although in echo questions, there is a very strong tendency to use who even in that position.
user8469759
user8469759
what do you mean by "positions"
?
Anonymous
All the different places in a sentence who or whom can appear.
Anonymous
For example, in a subject or object.
Anonymous
16:15
> She gave me a book. I gave her a book.
Anonymous
Whether we use she or her depends on where it appears in the sentence.
Anonymous
But people usually use who whether it's a subject, an object, or anything else. The only time they usually use whom is when it is the complement of a fronted preposition:
Anonymous
> To whom did you give the book?
Anonymous
But in casual speech, people don't say this at all. They don't move to to the beginning of the sentence.
Anonymous
Instead, they just say:
Anonymous
16:18
> Who did you give the book to?
Mitch
Mitch
@Cerberus I know! It just seems random.
Anonymous
And echo questions, which tend not to be particularly formal to begin with, almost always use who:
Anonymous
> Wait, you gave the book to who?!
Anonymous
@Cerberus I don't particularly like the term either, but I don't have a replacement.
Mitch
Mitch
'Interrogative pronoun' sounds good to me.
Anonymous
16:22
Aside from being wrong, that seems like a fine term.
Anonymous
It would have to be a pronoun to be an interrogative pronoun.
Anonymous
There is a more general term, pro-form, which you can use to describe pro-adverbs, pronouns, and so forth.
Mitch
Mitch
They're all primarily pronominal, a placeholder for some referent
Anonymous
If you want to be noncommittal about its lexical class, I mean.
Mitch
Mitch
Probably best just to treat them as their own special class for teaching. "For this question word, here are the possible responses....'
Anonymous
16:25
@Mitch That's the point, though, they're not. They don't all stand for nouns, and they aren't all grammatically like pronouns. How is an adverb, for example, and which is a determiner.
Anonymous
In the example above, you could say that where takes the place of a locative complement, but that complement doesn't have the form of a noun.
Mitch
Mitch
'Is'? Do they all get replaced by something? Yes. That's very pronoun-like.
Sure they can be adverb like too
@snailplane ok. Pro-something
But time and place answers to when and where seem very noun-like to me.
Anonymous
Well, let's try it.
Anonymous
> Where did you go?
Anonymous
> *I went New York.
Anonymous
16:30
Hmm, seems suspect to me.
Cerberus
Cerberus
@snailplane How I would go about it is think about what defines the category, pick one or two words from that definition, and form a nice-sounding term from that.
@snailplane I think the term pronoun is usually interpreted a bit more broadly than just substantive nouns: adjectives are almost always included, and often also phrases with noun heads.
englishstudent
englishstudent
@JasperLoy ok thanks.
Cerberus
Cerberus
@Mitch Times and places can usually be nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
I went there yesterday; yesterday evening; yesterday's feast.
It depends on the word.
englishstudent
englishstudent
Which one is correct: "I would be honored to interview with you" or "I would be honored to be interviewed"?
Abcd
Abcd
Is it correct to say "I strategized my sixty days"
in place of "I developed a startegy to be followed during the sixty days"
strategy*
 
2 hours later…
tchrist
tchrist
18:23
@Abcd It seems unusual to me for strategize to take a direct object.

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