Bemused, but not complaining: Anyone know why a question about a bed-spread like thing (english.stackexchange.com/questions/388654/…) has 28 votes (Q + A) and counting while a really nice question about the 19th century origin of "What me worry" got only a total of 6 votes (Q + A) ?(english.stackexchange.com/questions/289784/…)

@ab2 Stoopits hawt netwerk qveshuns

@tchrist - Hello!

Every time a grammarian says elision instead of ellipsis, a period dies.

It's not elision if you're dropping full words.

Suppose I'm giving a presentation to a class of 50 students approx. Once the presentation got ended I said 'Queries are welcome!'. What would be the difference if I had said 'A query is welcome' ?

@iamRR A/An is derived from the Saxon for one. The functions of the two words are sometimes slightly different, but generally speaking if you're using A/An, it means one of any potential whatever (queries in this case). "A query is welcome." seems strange because it seems to indicate that you are only taking one question, but you would probably want to be more specific if that was really the case.

"Queries are welcome." is the better way to put it, because the cumulative number of students in your classroom probably have more than just one question. However, if you wanted to reword it as a plural sentence, "Any queries are welcome" is also considerable.

@Tonepoet - Seems legit! Btw what did you mean by "if you're using A/An, it means one of any potential whatever (queries in this case) ?

@iamRR There are many possible questions your students might ask you: However, you would be isolating just one out of them all.

So let's say your students might have questions A, B, C, D, and E. If one of your students asks question D, that's "a question" and no further questions are permitted.

@Tonepoet Succinctly put!

So 'A query is welcome' is same as 'One query is welcome' Right?

@iamRR That's essentially correct. I think the restriction on "A query is welcome" is more likely to be disregarded though, since it's an odd way of saying it.

@Tonepoet - What restriction are you talking about?

The limitation of one question.

@iamRR However, I would also like to amend my statement by adding that sometimes "one" is more restrictive than A/An. So it might be that you only mean you are only willing to answer question B, for instance.

However, it'd be unlikely in this context.

If the restriction can be disregarded then 'A query...' and 'Queries are...' should be same. Isn't it?

A/An are sometimes called the indefinite article, because they select one out of infinitely many possibilities.

@iamRR What can be done and what should be done are two entirely different things! =P

@Tonepoet - True!

@Tonepoet - And what would you say to this : Suppose someone randomly asks this question to me "How would you feel if a girl gives you a compliment?" Here 'a girl' means one girl. Right?

@iamRR Yes and no. One as in, one at any given time, rather than just one ever.

It gets trickier there, possibly because it's a repeatable condition.

@Tonepoet - It can't be two at any given time?

Or for that matter any no if girls at any given time?

Hmm... I misread the question slightly.

@iamRR It's a different question that might have a different answer if more than one girl is complimenting a person at the same time. That person might feel differently about it since the circumstance is less intimate and considerations of courtship are probably decreased.

@iamRR Also, when no girls are complimenting you, the condition does not go into effect. I can talk about what I would do if I somehow became rich, but if it never happens then it would not change anything.

Okay! It's getting confusing for me to understand. Let me make a tweak in my question then - 'a compliment' in my original question means just one compliment or does the no of compliments do not matter in this sentence​ ?

@iamRR What's a no of compliments?

'more than one compliment'

It means one, but if she gives you two, the "if" condition is fulfilled twice (a girl complimented you, and then she complimented you again), so I don't think it matters too much in this context.

Okay, let's make it more easier then - "How would you feel if a girl gives you a pen on your birthday" ? Here a pen means just one pen or any no of pens irrespective of the no of pens?

@iamRR It should be just one pen. If it was more than one it would be "How would you feel if a girl gave you pens on your birthday?"

But can't we disregard the no of pens given ?

@iamRR I'm not sure about that.

Okay. Thanks, nonetheless!

Sorry to interrupt, but I have been stumbling here: in my eyes there (is/are) only you. Since this is formally an inversion, I feel that "are" is right. However, if we compare to other Romance languages, the verb for there to be is often impersonal, meaning that the answer is not even defined.

One last question. Sorry for the trouble! Consider another sentence - "Dementia is a medical condition in which a person gets delusional activities". What difference would it make if 'a delusional activity' is used instead of 'delusional activities' ?

@iamRR No problem. Also, I do hate to give unsolicited advice, but in the future, when you abbreviate number, you should probably place a period after it. I keep on reading it as "no" meaning refusal or denial, rather than no. for numero.

@iamRR "a delusional activity" sounds like a one-time experience that does not last long

I guess it should be 'is'

@LeakyNun

Why?

@iamRR I agree with @LeakyNun except maybe about duration.

What if i place one delusional activity in place of 'a' delusional activity' will there be any difference. Because essentially a means one. What say?

@LeakyNun - Sorry! I don't know the reason! It just that 'is' is sounding more apt in this case.

"Dementia is a medical condition in which a person gets a delusional activity". Vs Dementia is a medical condition in which a person gets one delusional activity. Is there any difference between the two sentences?

@iamRR Hmm, I'm trying to think but I'm drawing blanks. Sorry.

@Tonepoet What do you think about my question?

@LeakyNun I'd say "is" because the subject of the verb seems to be you, and not the eyes.

I'm not really sure if that's the right rationale though.

@Tonepoet do you say "you is"?

@LeakyNun "You are" certainly. However I was thinking along the lines of "In my eyes, there are only these".

But it doesn't seem to work with them...

@Tonepoet @LeakyNun Why do you want to join this organisation ? Reply - A) Because I want to mentor a student at your educational institute. B) Because i want to mentor one student at your educational institute. Do these sentences carry any difference or are both the same?

Folks, what would you say to this?

@iamRR I would pick A, and not B.

@Tonepoet - What's the difference between A and B, btw?

@iamRR That is something I am not sure about in this case.

@Tonepoet - But if 'a student' means one student then the sentences should be the same. Isn't it?

@iamRR Although a and one are essentially synonymous, they're not perfectly synonymous. Few words are.

"one" is more specific

"one" puts more emphasis on the number

@Mitch No, it is merely ordinary red bean ice cream that is commonly found in Antarctican supermarkets.

Hi

@nima What do you think about my question?

@LeakyNun No, but nor do you say there are only you. The subject of the verb are here, is you and that's singular so you need is not are.

The subject is "you" I suppose. I think it is an inversion.

As you said, it's an inversion, so invert it: There is only you in my eyes. You wouldn't say There are* only you in my eyes, so you don't use are when it's inverted either.

I'm not talking about the inversion with "in my eyes". I'm talking about the inversion between the "there" and the subject "you".

cf. hardly am i ...

@LeakyNun ?

the subject in "there's an apple" in my opinion is "an apple".

apple, but yes.

so the subject in "there is/are only you" is "you"

Yes

which should cause the verb to agree with the "you".

Ah, I see.

Uhm. OK, I can't find the rule for this now. I can, however, assure you that you most certainly want is and are is completely wrong.

This isn't the same thing as the second person singular (you are).

How would you say "i" then?

there _ i

I know this instinctively as a native speaker but I can't at the moment figure out why.

@LeakyNun ?

There is only I?

I don't know; I'm asking you

@LeakyNun Yes, I am asking you what you're asking about :) If you mean how would you use there is/are and I, the answer is There is only I, yes. Although that's a strange thing to say.

I can't think of any cases where you'd say that instead of There is only me.

would it sound better to say "there is only me"?

Yes.

But, in any case, you want is and not are.

I can agree with "is" if you use "me".

@LeakyNun I don't know eng grammar to answer your question.

If you use "i", logically I would say "there am only I".

@LeakyNun No.

The trick is that there is is an expression, a set phrase.

You aren't actually conjugating it.

It can only ever be either there is or there are

Never there am*

@terdon then what are you doing when you say "there are three boys"?

not conjugating?

Only between singular and plural. I may very well have my terminology wrong, and yes I can see why you'd call that conjugation. However, English is a bad example for this since the verb hardly changes at all.

The point is, it will only ever take is and are, never am and if this verb had more than three forms when conjugated, the difference would be easier to spot.

@LeakyNun what about this exception: "I'm your friend, aren't I"

@nima Completely different. That is a normal verb being conjugated and not a set phrase as in there is/there are.

That's I am, you are, he is etc.

Basically, "there is" is a way of saying "there exists".

@LeakyNun I guess you can think of there is and there are as individual words, one word not two. I mean that they behave as thought they were. The verb isn't conjugated normally as it would be in other cases and the only thing that changes it is whether its subject is singular or plural.

@nima because unfortunately amn't isn't common

It doesn't exist at all.

@LeakyNun ok.

The difference there is that that isn't the set phrase. It isn't there is. It's a normal use of the verb to be.

I use a french dictionary which has a search feature in the pronunciation of words, for example it was an English dictionary I'd search sth like this "eit" and it'd return these words: "late, mate, wait, date" or "rirt" and it'd give "report, retort, etc." do you know an English dictinary with this feature?

Dammit, where are the linguists when you need them?

before "eit" I typed an asterisk but it wasn't printed so I use dash instead: "-eit" "ri-rt".

@LeakyNun come back in a few hours when our resident experts will be here. They'll be able to explain it with all the right terms.

@terdon do you think whether it is alright to ask this question in the QA?

@nima Yes, although it would probably be better to ask on English Language Learners instead of here.

This sort of thing is instinctive to a native speaker (even though we might not be able to explain it) and the ELL site might be a better place for it.

@terdon I'll try that forum, thanks.

Oh, hang on, what question?

Your dictionary one?

No, I dont' think that's on topic there either.

Requests for learning materials are often off topic, but you will have to check the help center.

I don't really know.

What you're looking for is called a 'rhyming dictionary', a google search for that should be all you need.

rhymezone.com/r/…

@nima see the link above

no it's not rhyming dic. it's searching in pronunciation.

@nima Yes. How is that different from what you asked for?

@terdon amn't is a word.

@LeakyNun Well OK, there are a few dialects that use it but it is really not standard.

Ain't, while also non-standard, is far more common.

at least apple doesn't give me a red line

That doesn't mean much :)

@terdon if you could use *le petit robert" you would see.

@terdon @nima what languages do you know?

In order of proficiency: English/Greek (native), Spanish, French, Catalan.

for example a in apple is æ but in about it's ə right?

@nima That depends entirely on your accent.

@nima right

@terdon so I'll assume that you are referring to Spanish and French when you talked about "other languages", as in Spanish only uses hay and French only uses il y a.

I want to know for example which words have schwa as 1st sound then for example b and as the last sound t.

@nima abundant?

@LeakyNun I was thinking of existen in Spanish and the equivalent in Greek, actually, but yes, French is a good example: you only ever say il y a, you wouldn't ever use tu.

@nima Ah, maybe an IPA dictionary? I don't really know.

I would search sth like this: "ab-t"

@terdon en fait, je viens de me douter comment dit-on "I have you [by my side]" en francais, si l'on veut utiliser le verbe avoir

@terdon pero en espanol se dice "existe" y "existen", no?

@LeakyNun or, in Spanish hay solo tu never has solo tu

estoy de acuerdo

@LeakyNun Si, pero otra vez aqui se trata de otra situación. Es mas similar al hay uno/unos etc, ya que es frase dicha.

@LeakyNun Je t'ais a mon cote?

(les accents sont chiantes, desolé)

@terdon cela me sonne tres etranger

et cela serait "ai" non "ais"

@LeakyNun Yes, I write "phonetic" French. I lived there for 5 years so I can speak the language passably well, but I almost never wrote it, so my spelling is atrocious.

@terdon does one really say "je t'ai"?

It doesn't bother me, but my French isn't very good.

@nima are you French?

Ah, there de mon côté but that, I think, means on my side rather than by my side.

@LeakyNun Oh, in general yes, absolutely. That I am sure of. Je t'ai choisi for example. I don't really know if we can say je t'ai a mon côté for I have you by my side though.

@terdon no.

@ter

@nima No you're not French or no we can't say je t'ai a mon côté for I have you by my side?

@terdon Of course "je t'ai" is used in past tense eg "je t'ai choisi". However, it is different from the usage of "avoir" as the main verb.

Yes, it's an auxiliary here.

I don't think "je t'ai" is permissible as a main verb, and would use "je te tiens" instead.

@terdon terribly sorry, I meant I'm not french

@nima Ah, since you mentioned a French dictionary, I was hoping you were a native French speaker.

@LeakyNun Yeah, but that's a slightly different meaning, I think.

@terdo nsorry

More like I am holding you both when you're falling off a cliff and when I hold you tight.

I still don't think "je t'ai" per se is permissible

@LeakyNun To mean what?

@terdon to mean "I have you"

Ah yes, no I don't think so

however, I think "yo te tengo" is completely fine.

@LeakyNun Te tengo, pero si

son iguales

Casi

por que?

Bueno, que cuando uses el yo quiere decir mas que yo te tengo, no el, sino yo!

En cambio, decir simplemente te tengo es decir I have you. El otro en Ingles sería I have you.

Spanish doesn't need the pronoun and it is only really used for emphasis.

Or for comparison. "El no tiene nada, pero yo te tengo a tí"

What are your languages @LeakyNun?

I see, thanks.

native is Cantonese, then near-native are Mandarin and English, and learning are French and Spanish and German

Nice mix :)

near-native meaning that reading/writing/listening/speaking are fine

Well your English certainly comes across as excellent.

@terdon thank you for your complementary compliment

Afternoon

@M.A.R. hi

@Joe context?

@Joe That's not a whole sentence, so I can't answer your question

@Cerberus are you around? You might be able to explain why There is only you isn't There are* only you better than I can.

@terdon isn't it because "you" is perceived as a single entity?

@M.A.R. That would only explain why it isn't is, not why it isn't are as in you are the best.

Whenever you perceive it as being something single, it gets a singular verb agreement

It's something to do with there is being a set phrase, but I don't know how to explain it.

@terdon Set? No. Existential? Yeah

I haven't studied much of its grammar, but this seems to be the plausible explanation

No, hang on, I misspoke. What was confusing @nima was why, given that the subject is you, isn't the verb using are as you would even when singular cases such as you are the best.

Hmm

I think the term I was looking for may well have been existential there as you said though.

@terdon Hmm, I think it would be because your verb only has to agree with "there", because it's the subject, not "you". And the only formula you use to determine whether the "there" is singular or plural is how many items it's referring to.

there is the subject, huh? Hmm. You may well be right.

He punches them in the face.

Not "*He punch them in the face".

The same thing is going on here I believe.

The "you" is PC or whatever, but it's obviously not the subject.

@M.A.R. The original example was In my eyes, there is only you.

But you're right. The subject is not you. Not that I can see what else it might be, mind you.

There?

Can't be.

@terdon If we treat it with the "it is raining" pattern, i.e. S plus V plus V's complements, then "there"'s our subject

I still can't understand what this guy is talking about.

Unless they mean they want to ask a normal question with a new tag?

@terdon Why can't it be the subject, in your opinion? Because it's kinda 'semantically empty'?

That, I know for a fact, isn't enough reason. Dummy "it" can be a subject.

@M.A.R. I guess. I can't really define it and I certainly don't claim I know what I;m talking about. It just seems weird to have there as the subject.

it, sure. Of course, *there( is also acting as a pronoun here, I guess, which would suggest it can indeed be the subject.

Weird? Sure. Implausible? Maybe not. As I said I haven't studied much of its real grammar so I'm not sure if it gets another, different treatment from CGEL

Argh, I dunno. I'm going to wait for the big guns to come by. And then they're going to tell me more than I ever wanted to know about it :)

Oh, wonder why Snail doesn't hang out here often

Yeah, haven't seen her in a while.

here it is : When it has to do with the efficiency of all piezoelectric elements, it is determined by comparing the amount of the input power to the transducer to the amount of the output energy of the transducer

@LeakyNun

@M.A.R.

What's "it"?

Maybe just say that "it" is determined by blah blah when it's related to the efficiency of blah

thank you

or may be on the other hand, the efficiency of all piezoelectric elements, it is determined by .....

correct?

I didn't quite get where your sentence started and where it finished. Using quotes would help

But when you say "The efficiency . . . " you shouldn't use "it"

"the efficiency of all piezoelectric elements" has already taken "it"'s place. As your subject

what should I use instead?

nothing.

@Joe You shouldn't use anything, because you already have the subject

> the efficiency of all piezoelectric elements is determined by ...

ok thank you bro

@M.A.R. @terdon "there" is not the subject at all. It is simply an adverb in inversion

consider "hardly is she blind"

What?

O.o

This is the verb-second rule, though not so commonly followed in English

But the verb-second rule is still quite productive in German

I don't think that's inversion

@LeakyNun It's actually a pronoun there, I think.

See the second definition here: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/there

It's an adverb in Sit over there but not in There are 12 gods.

@terdon and I disagree with you on this point.

@terdon hmm...

@LeakyNun Let's agree to disagree i.imgur.com/5fhIOoT.gif

@nima googlling for 'dictionary search wildcard' I found OneLook. Try searching for ab*t

it's not pronunciation just spelling

@terdon yes I saw it

@LeakyNun and consider that There is one is very similar to It is one. And it is clearly a pronoun.

@terdon I agree with the fact that it is a pronoun and that the two sentences you gave me are very similar.

You may also consider here am I vs I am here to conclude that I and here are both pronouns.

or lazy am I vs I am lazy to conclude that lazy is a pronoun.

or I am here and I am one to conclude that here is a pronoun.

@nima searching dictionaries or really anything with wildcards is usually an advanced option nowadays because it is considered inefficient (depending on the underlying technology).

for a dictionary, searching the indexed word list really shouldn't be a problem with a plain text wordlist, but most dictionaries put the index words in special data structures where it is difficult to scan them like text.

@M.A.R. No.

or I am lazy and I am an apple...

@Mitch ಠ_ಠ Let's disagree to agree

@LeakyNun No, here is an adverb there, I'm pretty sure.

@terdon Yes, here is an adverb here. I'm pointing out the mistake in your logic.

You can't compare sentences to infer the part of speech.

@LeakyNun Sure you can, they just need to be equivalent and here I am is not the same as I am here oddly enough.

@terdon I just gave you examples about demonstrating how you can't.

@LeakyNun That's what I'm saying, you didn't really because you gave non-equivalent sentences.

@terdon Are you implying that there is one is equivalent to it is one?

@LeakyNun Yes you can

The one don't even have the same meaning

@M.A.R. That I can agree with

@M.A.R. No you can't

But you have to choose your sentences

@LeakyNun Yes. Syntactically, at least, I believe they are.

I'm a little tea pot

Not that they mean the same thing, only that they have the same grammar.

@LeakyNun You're questioning the attempt seasoned linguists are making in describing language.

@M.A.R. No I am not.

@Mitch I only half-agree

But (in case I haven't already made this abundantly clear) I am absolutely not a grammarian or any kind of grammar expert. Far, far from it.

@M.A.R. Salty

@M.A.R. with which part?

Ideally we'd want to get someone like @Cerberus or @tchrist on this.

my handle or my spout?

@Mitch I might actually get salty because I haven't eaten anything the whole day

Although probably preferably not both at the same time :P

@terdon pfft, they only know what they know

@Mitch The "I'm a" part

if they didn't know what they didn't know, then I'd be more amenable

@Mitch I know. Nobody knows what I know.

Or the trouble I've seen.

@M.A.R. Wow. That stings

how you say about text when it is written very good.. Do u say it is fluent?

Which reminds me, why the hell do people misspell 'whoa'?

@Mitch Told you I'm grumpy

It's pretty well established

@terdon mostly water

@Joe Text can't be fluent. It can be well-written, nuanced, stupid etc.

under the bridge

Downtown?

thank you bro

@M.A.R. I don't know if it helps but I'm pretty sure you've never been explicit about that.

I need proof

About not having eaten anything?

@terdon when the levees break

Cerb will drown.

@M.A.R. about being grumpy

unless that's a euphemism for being malnourished

@terdon he's got dikes instead

It's a euphemism for being grumpy

@Mitch No silly, he's a boy.

@M.A.R. I think text can be fluent

'fluent' is more likely to be used about oral speech though

'flows well' is probably the closest for text

@terdon I started quoting song lyric fragments the other day in response to him and without my realizing it I may have gone into questionable territory

innuendo

and such

A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh?

Also, why do people misspell 'all right' all the time?

@terdon ??

really?

I thought it was 'a wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse'

i'd never heard your version before