English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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Mitch

17:00

@terdon then all those extra words make the distinction

Averruncus

@EnglishStudent I was talking to an American on Skype but we both stopped talking after a while, I got busy with internship and she has kids and a busy life now. In real life I sometimes speak it with friends but I get a kick out of writing in English in chats (like this one with native speakers). I just like this, it is like meditation for me. What about you? How is your spoken English?

I have an accent though. So that doesn't make me sound appealing.

Mitch

@Averruncus it's total work for me. kind of draining. would rather just mumble like I do in real life

Cerberus

@terdon "a large body of evidence comprised of similar things"—would this not also be expressed by many evidences?

Averruncus

@Mitch haha

terdon

@Mitch Yeah. It's just that I've often found myself correcting "many evidences" to more complex forms that add words to a document that has a strict word limit and the like. My life would often have been easier had I just been able to use the damn thing as a countable noun.

Mitch

17:01

mmph glurble hmhnmhmnhmm

English Student

@Averruncus I also like to write in English only! Spoken English is very formal and stiff because opportunities to speak with native speakers were initially very rare.

terdon

@Cerberus Well, for me, many evidences would suggest many different pieces as opposed to a large body of evidence comprised of similar things.

Mitch

@terdon yeah it should be 'much evidence'

Cerberus

@terdon I don't think I would infer that distinction...

Averruncus

@EnglishStudent Yeah true.

Mitch

17:02

@terdon 'many evidences' sounds wrong to me

maybe it is just the 'evidences'

terdon

@Cerberus I won't push the point, I may be wrong since the damn thing ("the many evidences" construct) just seems so off to me.

Mitch

because it is a mass noun

English Student

@Averruncus on the rare occasion when I found myself speaking with native speakers, my generic Indian English accent actually made it clear for them to understand me.

terdon

@Mitch To me too. That's the thing. I just wish it didn't is all.

Mitch

terdon

17:03

Although it actually is countable. But that's very archaic. Maybe @Tonepoet would still use it :P

Mitch

or rather... 'oh'

Cerberus

@terdon I know the feeling you get as you're writing some text. But usually, when you look at it later, you realise that the distinction you were trying to make is either not important or complex enough to warrant a separate, explicatory sentence.

terdon

Q: Is "evidence" countable?

As a native English speaker, I am often asked by friends and colleagues to correct their manuscripts. One of the most common mistakes I find is the use of the noun evidences. Now, the dictionary definitions I have read state that evidence is a mass noun, that it is not countable. For example, thi...

word-usage

Cerberus

I would just go with either much evidence (should consist of several pieces of evidence) or strong evidence (could be just one, strong piece of evidence).

@terdon Indeed, I would certainly correct many evidences.

@terdon Your question already had my up-vote!

terdon

Oh, I always do. It's just that I've often found myself in situations where it would have been great to be able to use it.

@Cerberus :)

Cerberus

17:06

I recognise the feeling, but not the conclusion.

terdon

Man, I just saw Kris's "answer" again. Grrrr.

Mitch

haha he's always in just the wrong direction

Cerberus

Yeah, that's pretty useless.

Mitch

since we're talking about stupidity...

wait... you're waiting for me to talk about something tupid?

dangit.... s tupid

SBM

terdon

17:14

@Mitch Tep on the breakth tupid!

Da'th how you top a car.

Tonepoet

@terdon I'm not terribly accquainted with that practice. I'll have to read more 19th century literature before I come to a conclusion.

Matt E. Эллен

@terdon I tend to use programme, but if I'm talking to Americans I use program.

Cerberus

terdon

@Cerberus ?

@MattE.Эллен Thanks, just wanted to confirm that you don't use both depending on context.

Cerberus

Actually, only the second photo is required.

Can you guess what this is about?

I'm going out for a run now, so you have 25 minutes!

It is about a certain...issue, and how certain people...deal with it.

terdon

17:29

@Cerberus Rich priests with expensive watches?

Cerberus

Ding!

You're fast.

They Photoshopped it out, but only after the original photo had already been distributed.

And they forgot to Photoshop the reflection.

It's Kirill, the Russian patriarch.

SBM

good night!

terdon

@Cerberus What, the Russian patriarch is a small crustacean?

Oh! Kirill. OK.

Tonepoet

@terdon Based upon the picture, I'd suggest he looks more like a Maltese:

terdon

snort

True, but I was thinking of Krill.

Mitch

17:39

@Cerberus wow. very perceptive

also WTH, who wears a watch anymore when you got a smart phone?

terdon

@Mitch 'Tain't a status symbol if everyone has one.

Mitch

@terdon like a neck watch

it's called a flavapiece

it's flava time

Tonepoet

@Mitch It's still somewhat easier to check a wristwatch than a smart phone for many of the same reasons that it is easier to check a wristwatch than a pocket-watch.

Mitch

check as in a hockey the move of a body slam at high speed against the sideboard?

or check as in monitor?

I'm leaning towards hockey

or do you mean put into the under belly luggage compartment for a flight?

As usual I'm confused

Averruncus

@Mitch Even when I'm without a phone I don't wear a watch. I just don't like things on my wrist. It is annoying.

Tonepoet

17:51

@Mitch I meant it as in examine, although it seems as though I need to remedy my understanding of the word.

Averruncus

Also there is like, sun, the shadows, the stars etc. so you can tell time by it. ;)

Well, joking aside, I like to look around for a wall clock. It has been a habit for years. And I always find one around.

SBM

Hmm

2 hours later…

Mitch

20:27

@Averruncus exactly. Just uncomfortable jewelry at this point

@Averruncus also, exactly. People would barely survive five minutes in the wild, because what is this sun you're speaking of Arghh! A house cat is biting my face off!

@Averruncus not in a casino

True fact

Unlike those other facts. You know the ines I'm talking about. I don't mean to be judgy but ... I don't want to say because it would be rude.

@Tonepoet haha no you used it just fine. I just started down a path and couldn't stop

As per usual

As pera ad astra

Sine qua non sequitur de France

Tonepoet

20:55

@Mitch Ah, yeah, I realize you're just trying to be funny. The thing is, although you're not judgmental, I am, esp. in regard to my own usage of words. I checked against a few of the older dictionaries of course to try and find what I meant, and among the publications I respect the most, it simply wasn't there. In summary, I should be using the word check in the sense of causing hindrance or perhaps cross examination, rather than just simple examination.