ELL's Cabin

Anonymous

00:00

Whatever the reason, this word is often written in katakana

Damkerng T.

Oh, so it's not only about this line, but the word itself!

Anonymous

Yes, that's right

Anonymous

Katakana is used for lots of reasons. Foreign words is just one

Damkerng T.

@Damkerng T. Thanks for having edited my question: I discovered this contractions flag, so I went to watch the corresponding messages. From some of them, I got an idea that results in an enlargement of my question, as stated by my edit. — cFreed 26 mins ago

Oh, yay!

Anonymous

Yay!

Damkerng T.

00:11

@snailboat Is gomi somehow from English?

Damkerng T.

00:28

> I hope you'll come and have dinner with us when you're in London next.

That sounds very odd! But it's an example in Leech's book!

Hello @Catija!

Catija

:D Hi @DamkerngT.

I was just looking at a "deleted" answer that someone posted to a question... Apparently this person likes to create answers and delete them until they're fully ready to post... but all I can see when I read it is gobbledy-gook... It's a bunch of technical terminology which I don't understand and I'm not sure how it would be helpful to a learner. It's the exact opposite of what I would normally do as I try to make things as simple as possible.

Damkerng T.

:-)

I think some learners like to read technical explanations, though. So, it depends. Personally, it's the more the merrier to me.

Though personally, I like to read and write things short.

StoneyB

@DamkerngT. Hi, DT.

Damkerng T.

Hi! @StoneyB

StoneyB

@Catija Is it Araurcaria? He does that to sort of stake a claim, I think, and to start himself thinking. Or maybe he discovers as he's writing that the question is bigger than he thought. But by and large he's pretty good--better than I am, at least!--at trimming off the technicalities.

@snailboat, @DamkerngT. : (please don't let me interrupt your discussion of Japanese. I have a particular fondness for listening to conversations that are 'way over my head.)

Damkerng T.

00:50

@StoneyB I'm still an absolute beginner at Japanese though. :-)

StoneyB

@DamkerngT. Yes but you have begun . . .

Damkerng T.

Still at the very beginning. :-) But yes. :D

Catija

01:13

@StoneyB No, F.E. It could just be that I'm not reading it closely enough for it to make sense but I'm not well-versed enough in parts of speech/verb forms/grammar terminology etc for it to make much sense to me.

Oh, and I feel very accepted... someone on ELU called me "dim".

StoneyB

01:47

@Catija That's rude.

Catija

@StoneyB Yeah. The comment got deleted, though, so it's OK. And someone else stood up for me and called the other guy a prick.

StoneyB

Sigh. :( Internet civility.

Happily, that sort of thing's pretty rare on ELU. Most of the users have sufficient command of the language to cut you so delicately you don't notice till you drop dead.

Catija

HA HA. Nice. I appreciate a good cutting remark. :)

StoneyB

Sorta like the old Beyond the Fringe routine: "I always enjoy a good joke when it's pointed out to me."

Fantasier

04:01

BBC keeps talking about the coup in Burundi. Not much attention to it around here :3

Freddy

04:39

hola

Anonymous

05:58

@DamkerngT. I was trying to say this was one of the other uses :-)

Anonymous

ゴミ is not from English

Damkerng T.

Hmm... that makes it even curiouser!

Damkerng T.

06:10

A-ha! I found something interesting! One it was edited to that in the script of Seven.

> SOMERSET: Let me tell you how I want this to go. I want you to look, and I want you to listen.
MILLS: I wasn't standing around guarding the local Taco Bell. I've worked homicide for five and a half years.
SOMERSET: Not here.
MILLS: I realize that.
SOMERSET: Well, over the next seven days, do me the favor of remembering it.

The last word was edited to that.

The edited version (via IMDb):

> David Mills: Now, I wasn't standing around guarding the taco-bell, alright? I worked homicide for five years.
William Somerset: Not here.
David Mills: I understand that.
William Somerset: Well, over the next seven days, Detective, you'll do me the favour of remembering that.

Anonymous

The two aren't necessarily possible to distinguish in speech

Anonymous

Though I suppose someone might have misheard

Damkerng T.

The way Morgan Freeman did it makes it easy to be heard as that clearly.

I think I like that better, though I can't explain why.

LOL -- I heard "a canned ham" as "a can of hand". :-)

0

Q: This is the question mark

When you first introduce something in general with a "this is" phrase, what article (definite, indefinite or no article) do you use in the following sentences? This is [a/the/-] question mark. This is [a/the/-] 8. This is [a/the/-] E.

Wow, we edited it into a different question!

Anonymous

06:30

Or maybe the script was written one way and he changed it in his performance, and the other quote is a transcription. In that case, no errors would be involved

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I didn't mean it was an error in the script. I think it's an interesting edit.

Anonymous

Edit?

Damkerng T.

Like that can give a firmer expression.

Anonymous

Hmm, I'm afraid I won't be voting to reopen that question in its current state...

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Yes, I'm looking at the movie script available on the web and compare it to the movie. Lots of things were edited out or rephrased.

dailyscript.com/scripts/seven_production.html

@snailboat Me either.

Anonymous

06:34

I saw that movie

Anonymous

I don't like to watch horror movies, but I saw that one...

Damkerng T.

It was very well made, imho.

Anonymous

I think we only call them edits to the script if we know that someone changed the script on paper

Anonymous

If people change things in their performances I don't think they're edits

Anonymous

But things like scenes being left out can be edits, too (just not to the script)

Anonymous

06:37

That is assuming the script existed in its current form before the movie was shot

Anonymous

I've watched some horror movies before

Damkerng T.

nods -- Judging by how much it was changed, I think they edited it before the shooting. But this revision is close enough to the production.

Anonymous

Oh, I can be a little more okay with reading horror

Anonymous

But reading horror tends to leave me in a bad state of mind

Anonymous

It's usuallu scarier on paper

Damkerng T.

06:39

@snailboat My first one was Poltergeist. I remember I got a nightmare. :D

Anonymous

Stupid phone

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Oh, for me it's usually opposite.

I think maybe it's because the soundtracks and sound effects in the movies.

Anonymous

Oh, I hate when horror movie soundtracks try to make you uncomfortable

Damkerng T.

Hehe! They seem to like to do that!

Gowtham

Is seven a horror movie ?

Damkerng T.

06:42

Hi @Gowtham

Anonymous

Kiseijū didn't really do that with its soundtrack

Damkerng T.

Yes, I think you could say horror.

Ahh

Anonymous

A lot of the time it didn't really seem like horror

Gowtham

I felt it was more of a Thriller/Suspense , ofcourse with a bit of violence

Anonymous

Even if the series was centered around eldritch abominations :-)

Damkerng T.

06:43

@snailboat The way I remember it, it was more like a love story, with lots of actions. :D

@Gowtham Yes, I think suspense is probably more like it.

IMDb classifies it as drama, mystery, thriller.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. The cartoon had one of my favorite seiyū, Kana Hanazawa, as Murano

Damkerng T.

Oh! Neat!

Anonymous

@Gowtham I would call it a scary movie

Anonymous

That's just me :-)

Damkerng T.

Oh, Psycho-Pass and Blassreiter!

Anonymous

06:50

I'm impressed three people upvoted an answer saying O is both an article and an adjective

Damkerng T.

I think I've watched Railgun, too. Just some episodes.

Anonymous

I know some people deny all of modern linguistics, but still...

Damkerng T.

I think "particle" is a much better choice.

Gowtham

@snailboat Well I associate scary with ghost type movies

Fantasier

Kiseujuu is great :-) (Am I too late?) Railgun is so-so, though.

Gowtham

06:53

Have you ever tried watching paranormal movies on a laptop wearing a headset/earphones. That is what i would call a scary :D

Anonymous

Ohh, you watched it too, @Fantasier! :-)

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier Kiseujuu is classic, imo. :-)

Fantasier

I used to watch anime on a regular basis.

@DamkerngT. Indeed.

Not anymore though. I don't find them as interesting as they used to be.

Damkerng T.

@Gowtham LOL

Fantasier

By the way, are "manga" and "anime" countable?

And how do I pluralize them?

Anonymous

06:55

They're sometimes treated as count nouns with zero plurals

Damkerng T.

Like 47 Ronin, I think. :-)

Fantasier

By "zero plurals," you mean plurals that look exactly the same as their singulars?

Anonymous

Yes

Fantasier

Oh, I see :-)

Anonymous

Like for game animals

Anonymous

06:56

> I'm hunting wabbit.

Anonymous

The idea is that you add a zero affix (one with no phonetic realization) to turn it into a plural: wabbit + ∅ → wabbit (plural)

Anonymous

Loanwords from Japanese are treated inconsistently

Anonymous

Some people treat words like anime as regular nouns: "I saw an anime last night"

Anonymous

But anime is usually counted with series or episode or whatever the relevant unit is

Anonymous

Even though people refer to a series as "an anime", they usually won't count them as "two animes, three animes", etc.

Anonymous

07:01

But people do different things.

Anonymous

There are some words that are entirely regularized, like futon (everyone agrees it's countable and has a regular plural with -s)

Anonymous

But there's a surprising amount of variation in other Japanese loanwords :-)

Anonymous

One interesting one is kanji

Anonymous

In my experience it usually has a zero plural (one kanji, two kanji, two thousand kanji)

Anonymous

But I think that among English speakers who aren't learning or studying Japanese, kanjis is not uncommon

Anonymous

07:04

Anyway, the "zero plural" idea rests on the idea of a "zero affix", which not everyone accepts

Anonymous

So for the same reason some linguists prefer "conversion" to "zero derivation", you might choose not to use "zero plural" as a term

Anonymous

But I think the terms are simply too handy to throw away :-)

Fantasier

For example my lecturer :-P In the textbook, it says it's the ∅ morpheme, but she says it's conversion.

Anonymous

Yeah. And theoretically, I think your lecturer's point of view is more sound

Fantasier

How so? :-)

Anonymous

07:07

Well, that's the tricky thing. When we say there's a zero affix, obviously we can't observe its presence directly

Anonymous

It's entirely a matter of theory

Anonymous

So how do we know if it's really there? (Does it even make sense to ask in the first place?)

Fantasier

Ah, I see your point.

Anonymous

After all, there's no reason you can't come up with an accurate description using zero morphemes

Anonymous

The question is: is it the simplest possible explanation?

Anonymous

07:08

Or are you introducing unnecessary theoretical baggage?

Anonymous

That is, is introducing a zero morpheme parsimonious, to use our watchword? :-)

Anonymous

And you can argue over that.

Damkerng T.

Like when I say 1+1=2, I could say it's actually (1,0)+(1,0)=(2,0). :P

Anonymous

I like how you're literally adding zero to the explanation :-)

Damkerng T.

:D

Anonymous

07:11

In the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, the authors generally start by cataloging the forms in use, then describing how those forms are used

Anonymous

So for example, walk is what they call the plain form of the verb. They explain that this form is used in imperative, infinitival, and subjunctive constructions.

Anonymous

They would call it the imperative-infinitive-subjunctive form, but that's a bit too wordy, so they went with "plain" :-)

Anonymous

They don't posit three separate forms (imperative, infinitive, subjunctive) because these forms are always identical for all verbs

Anonymous

So why posit wide scale syncretism when you can simply analyze it as one form with multiple uses?

Anonymous

On the other hand, they distinguish between walk in "I walk" (a finite clause) and walk in imperative/infinitival/subjunctive constructions, because for one verb there is a difference: be

Damkerng T.

07:15

That reminds me of what Leech said about 'event verb' and 'state verb'.

Anonymous

What Leech said is similar to what most other linguists say

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

So if we start by cataloging the forms of sheep, what do we find?

Anonymous

We find sheep and sheeps. But their distribution is different from, say, hammer and hammers.

Damkerng T.

Isn't the plural of sheep always sheep?

Anonymous

07:17

The unadorned sheep is usually used as a plural, but the morphological plural sheeps is used when discussing multiple kinds of sheep

Damkerng T.

Or is it similar to peoples?

Anonymous

So the simplest explanation appears to be that it has the regular set of forms, but an irregular distribution

Anonymous

(Some people use it as a regular noun, but that's non-standard)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Remember our discussion of fishes?

Damkerng T.

I think so.

Anonymous

07:19

Environmental Biology of Fishes

Environmental Biology of Fishes is a peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on all aspects of fish and fish-related biology, and the links to their environment. The journal is published by Springer Science+Business Media and was established in 1976. The current editor-in-chief is David L.G. Noakes (Oregon State University, Corvallis). == Abstracting and indexing == Environmental Biology of Fishes is abstracted and indexed in the following databases: According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2011 impact factor of 0.914. == References == == External links == Offic...

Anonymous

We usually say a fish, two fish, three fish

Anonymous

But when referring to kinds of fish, we use the regular plural fishes

Damkerng T.

^That's even the title of a book!

Anonymous

It's a journal

Damkerng T.

I mean One Fish Two Fish. :D

Anonymous

07:20

> - Publishes original studies on the ecology, life history, epigenetics, behavior, physiology, morphology and evolution of marine and freshwater fishes
> - Deals with the relationship between fishes and their external and internal environment

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Ohh :-)

Anonymous

Does it make anything simpler to say that sometimes we add a zero affix to fish to make it plural, and sometimes we add -s?

Anonymous

I don't think it does.

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

I think the simplest explanation is that it has a regular set of forms with irregular distribution

Anonymous

07:21

And that irregular distribution is in line with the entire class of nouns it belongs to

Anonymous

So no, I don't think introducing a zero affix is parsimonious

Anonymous

But "zero plural" is just such a convenient term I can't part with it . . . :-)

Anonymous

If y'all come up with a better term, I'll abandon it!

Anonymous

Likewise, I think "zero derivation" is actually a pretty nice term, even if it's theoretically on shaky ground.

Anonymous

Why? Well, when you see it, what do you think? One of two things:

Anonymous

07:26

① "Zero derivation"? What the heck is that? Let me go look it up.

Anonymous

② Oh, I know what that is!

Anonymous

On the other hand, lay readers might see "conversion" and not realize it's a technical term with a specific meaning

Anonymous

So every time you use it, you have to go and tell people, "This is called conversion. It's a technical term in linguistics. It refers to changing a word from one class to another, for example from noun to adjective, without changing the word's form."

Anonymous

Whereas when you say zero derivation, you can assume people will look it up if they don't know and want to understand :-)

Damkerng T.

nods -- I guess Y-grammar (a hilarious grammar introduced by CoolHandLouis) has no conversion, because every word in Y-grammar is a "modifier". :P

Anonymous

07:29

If every word is a modifier, then modifier is a synonym for word

Anonymous

And it no longer means "something which modifies"

Damkerng T.

Yes, thus the name Y-grammar! (I think)

Anonymous

And therefore there's no reason to use modifier

Anonymous

Just call every word a word

Anonymous

Since that definition is useless, I propose we throw it out :-)

Damkerng T.

07:31

Poor Y-grammar!

thrown out

Anonymous

Hehe

Gowtham

@DamkerngT. Where do you get these puzzle of the day audios

Anonymous

07:53

0

Q: You go sneaking vs. you go sneak

What is the difference between "you go sneak" and "you go sneaking"? (((Just to filling up more words to meet the posting credential)))

grammar

Anonymous

> (((Just to filling up more words to meet the posting credential)))

Anonymous

:-)

Gowtham

har

Damkerng T.

@Gowtham Here and there. :-)

@snailboat Triplet!

Anonymous

Do we want to reopen this question?

Anonymous

07:54

0

Q: Community mathematics or Mathematics community?

Which of the following is more suitable as a title for a base forum for people who love to deal with mathematics: Community mathematics Mathematics community

adjectives sentence-structure

Damkerng T.

Oh, it was clsoed?

Anonymous

It still is!

Damkerng T.

Oh, I closed it myself, even!

Anonymous

Oh, you were using close in the passive :-)

Anonymous

And not as an adjective!

Damkerng T.

07:56

Yup!

Anonymous

You can make that unambiguous with a get-passive:

Anonymous

> Oh, it got closed?

Damkerng T.

I think Ben said something quite nice earlier today.

@snailboat A-ha! Thanks for the tip!

Rather than voting to close this because you can't choose "is" or "are" without knowing the rest of the sentence, please consider that that is the answer (along with an explanation of why). ELL is for people who are learning English, for whom the confusion in the question is exactly what a good answer can help them with. We do that by explicitly addressing that confusion, not by requiring that the question be purged of that confusion. — Ben Kovitz 19 hours ago

Anonymous

That seems fair

Damkerng T.

So it's reopened!

Anonymous

08:05

I'm not confident though... I'm probably wrong like usual, and I am afraid of posting an answer with wrong info. — Blavius yesterday

Anonymous

This is a comment on Japanese.SE, but...

Anonymous

We can ask more generally

Anonymous

Does it make sense to post speculative answers and see how people vote / comment on them?

Anonymous

Perhaps you could label the answer as speculative so people know you aren't sure

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

08:06

Some people seem to think you shouldn't be in the business of posting answers if you aren't sure. That seems understandable to me, but...

Damkerng T.

Some questions are more difficult to answer universally.

Anonymous

If the alternative is posting answers in comments, well, that just means you're disabling the voting system because you aren't sure...

Fantasier

Finally!

I finished my job!

5,088 word pairs.

I feel as if my wrists are going to fall into pieces.

Damkerng T.

Looking around in case some of the pieces were scattered around here...

Fantasier

Oh, B.B. King passed away.

Anonymous

08:19

@Fantasier Oh, please take a break! You should never let yourself come to injury while using a computer

Anonymous

@Fantasier Oh no!!

Fantasier

@snailboat I'm fine actually. It was hyperbolic :-)

Anonymous

Oh, phew!

Anonymous

Lots of people really do hurt themselves doing data entry, you know

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier sad

Anonymous

08:25

B.B. King - Lucille

►

Fantasier

I knew him as the original singer of Stand by Me.

Damkerng T.

This video is not available.

double sad...

Fantasier

It's fine on my computer?

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier I like that song!

@Fantasier Oh!

Fantasier

Wow, my senior's paper is titled "Hogwarts is Burning: Queer Time and Space in Harry Potter"

It's daring and interesting :-)

Damkerng T.

08:33

Oh!

Anonymous

Queer time and space?

Damkerng T.

Rowling is like today's Shakespeare indeed.

Anonymous

I think Harry Potter is okay. I enjoyed it :-)

Anonymous

It's not one of my favorite series, but it's not bad

Fantasier

@snailboat I think they reinterpret scenes, events and language used in Harry Potter and relate them to LGBTQ or something like that.

Anonymous

08:36

Oh, lit crit :-)

Fantasier

Yes :-)

Gowtham

08:53

@DamkerngT. Where is here and there :D

Anonymous

09:04

@Gowtham A paradigm collapsed!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat It's not only shifted, it's collapsed!

@Gowtham It's from several places, movies, radio, YouTube, news, etc.

^I should've used a colon, though.

Hello, @user223679! Welcome to the room!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Ah, the sort of paradigm that shifts is a very different sort :-)

Anonymous

I guess paradigms can do all sorts of things!

Damkerng T.

Hehe!

user223679

Hello! Any math geeks here?

Damkerng T.

09:10

What kind of math puzzle are you trying to solve?

My math is really rusty now.

user223679

Not puzzles, rather advertising about my chat-room. I believe @Gowtham might be interested. Here!

Damkerng T.

Wow, math, physics, chemistry, etc. all in one!

Anonymous

Ah, I bet you found your way here from the chemistry room, then :-)

user223679

Thats the syllabus for the Indian Engineering Student :)

@snailboat Correct!

Anonymous

The NOAD has a surprisingly good set of definitions for paradigm: oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/paradigm

Damkerng T.

09:14

I'm an engineer, though I'm really bad at chemistry. :D

Anonymous

I liked chem, but I was never any good in chem labs

Damkerng T.

@snailboat A-ha! So it's a linguistic term!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Yes! Once upon a time, English had a fairly robust wh-t-h paradigm

Anonymous

Whence, thence, hence

Anonymous

Where, there, here

Anonymous

09:15

Whither, thither, hither

Damkerng T.

Oh, thither is new to me!

And I only know hitherto.

Come to think of it, I think I've never heard thence either!

Anonymous

In Modern English it's preserved primarily in fossilized phrases like hither and thither

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Whenceforth, thenceforth, henceforth

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Wow, the three little guys are very productive!

Anonymous

Wherefore, therefore, herefore

Damkerng T.

09:18

Wherein, therein, herein

user223679

And I shall leave the English people alone

Damkerng T.

LOL

Anonymous

When, then, hen

Anonymous

Hah, I'm sorry :-)

Damkerng T.

Um... hen!

LOL

Anonymous

09:20

@DamkerngT. Hee

Anonymous

変ね

Anonymous

We have hence today but not hen

Damkerng T.

@snailboat ふうん. :-)

Anonymous

Anyway, these words don't line up very neatly anymore in Modern English

Damkerng T.

Not sure if that (ふうん) communicates anything...

Anonymous

09:21

Each one has its own special usage―or has more or less disappeared

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Ah, I'm not sure what you intended

Anonymous

But I remember our earlier discussion!

Damkerng T.

I tried to mean it as "That's rather unfortunate!"

Anonymous

Oh! I thought you might mean 不運, but I wasn't sure because I didn't see what was unfortunate

Damkerng T.

@snailboat It's rather unfortunate that hen doesn't mean anything along the lines of when and then. :D

Anonymous

09:24

@DamkerngT. We have when, then, now!

Damkerng T.

Indeed!

Anonymous

www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/Paradigm.html

Anonymous

He left out hen, which was never common

Anonymous

For that matter, there was never really a hat, either

Damkerng T.

Interesting!

Anonymous

09:28

There was an at in some dialects, but the OED lists it as a worn down version of that

Anonymous

It doesn't fit into our puzzle!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Isn't is strange that we translate the relative pronoun that as at in Thai!

(ที่)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh yeah?

Damkerng T.

Yep!

Anonymous

I like false cognates

user223679

09:32

Can I ask a stupid question?

Anonymous

You can ask what you'd like :-)

user223679

Whats the difference between: Football , American Football , Rugby , Soccer , American Soccer , European Football , European Soccer?

Anonymous

Well, that's quite the question!

Anonymous

You could post it on ELL :-)

Damkerng T.

I think we can reduce that to rugby vs. soccer vs. football.

Anonymous

09:35

In the US we refer to 'American football' as football, and to 'European football' as soccer

Anonymous

In Europe, I think they refer to 'American football' as American football, and to 'European football' as football

Anonymous

Not sure which one rugby is

Anonymous

I'm not much of a sports person :-)

Anonymous

That's a different sport entirely, isn't it?

Damkerng T.

This is the first time I've heard of European football. Maybe NFL is becoming popular there.

Anonymous

09:37

That's why I put it in quotes. I don't think people usually say 'European football'

Damkerng T.

(I remember that there is Australian football, which is similar to American football.)

Anonymous

Oh yeah?

Anonymous

uefa.com

Anonymous

Well, shows what I know.

Anonymous

But I think that must mean "football in Europe", like what we call soccer here? But in Europe. Yeah? :-)

Damkerng T.

09:38

Oh, European Football doesn't really exist.

user223679

So, if I tell any random guy about Soccer, he will link it to The one which has 10 players and a Goalkeeper right? Just wanted to avoid confusion.

Anonymous

@user223679 Post on ELL! It's confusing.

Damkerng T.

If anyone uses it, he or she must mean the Europa League.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Yes! That's what I was thinking. Except I don't know that name specifically

Damkerng T.

@user223679 I think it depends on where you are when you're asking that.

Anonymous

09:39

I think of Shaolin Soccer.

Anonymous

Damkerng T.

nods

user223679

@DamkerngT. American Football has more than 11 players right?

Damkerng T.

Soccer seems to be more effective than "football" in general, though.

Anonymous

(Fun note: 足球 literally means 'foot' + 'ball' :-)

Damkerng T.

09:40

@user223679 American Football also has 11 players one each side too, iirc.

user223679

@snailboat This is football (Europe one) without considering Gravity!!

Anonymous

@user223679 Gravity is overrated.

Anonymous

It's your job as an Indian Engineer to solve gravity.

Damkerng T.

5 on the line, 5 behind the line, and 1 QB, iirc.

user223679

Oh.. I have no idea about that. @DamkerngT.

So including the Keyword "Goalkeeper" will sort out the confusion I guess.

Anonymous

09:42

I do! I've had football explained to me any number of times. I don't remember most of it (it's hard to remember things you aren't interested in), but of course I know QB is quarterback

Anonymous

Or "goalie!"

Damkerng T.

nods

user223679

@snailboat Thats rude!

Damkerng T.

Oh, no!

Anonymous

@user223679 Oh, is it? I think it's the job of all engineers around the world to solve gravity.

Anonymous

09:43

We don't have nearly enough antigravity here on Earth.

Damkerng T.

Where is my warp speed? I want it now! :P

user223679

@snailboat Its rude for Chemical Engineers ;)

Damkerng T.

LOL

Anonymous

Oh, you're a Chemical Engineer! What do you folks do?

Damkerng T.

@user223679 You could try to come up with an anti-gravity material!

Anonymous

09:44

One of my friends is a materials scientist. He has failed me by not inventing antigravity materials.

Damkerng T.

LOL

Anonymous

Hey, that's a good example of an attributive plural!

Anonymous

Materials science

Materials science, also commonly known as materials science and engineering, is an interdisciplinary field which deals with the discovery and design of new materials. Though it is a relatively new scientific field that involves studying materials through the materials paradigm (synthesis, structure, properties and performance), its intellectual origins reach back to the emerging fields of chemistry, mineralogy and engineering during the Enlightenment. It incorporates elements of physics and chemistry, and is at the forefront of nanoscience and nanotechnology research. In recent years, materials...

Damkerng T.

@snailboat True!

user223679

I am a Student. Trying to be an engineer. Just saying that Chemical Engg wont like Gravity.

Anonymous

09:45

Recently a question was closed as a duplicate of this on ELU:

Anonymous

3

A: When to, and when not to pluralise month?

'7 month old' is actually '7-month-old'. It serves as an attribute that modifies a noun. (e.g. old in the old dog.) It is adjectival and therefore has no plural form. You need to put an article in front of it and a noun after it. For example: He is a 7-year-old boy. 'is 7 months old' is a p...

Anonymous

Even though the answer is wrong

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Because "It is adjectival and therefore has no plural form."?

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Yeah. That's not correct

Anonymous

It's a conflation of category with function that makes a false prediction

Anonymous

09:48

Someone might see that and think, therefore, that materials science must be material science because material is an adjective and therefore has no plural form

Anonymous

But that contradicts the facts and therefore can't be the correct explanation

Anonymous

However!!

user223679

Do you all argue on anyhting that looks grammatically incorrect? ;)

Anonymous

I have no problem with pointing out the similarities :-)

Anonymous

(In fact, seven month old can't be an adjective because it's a phrase, and adjective is a word class)

Anonymous

09:51

@user223679 Grammar is fun!

Damkerng T.

@user223679 It's our specialties. :P

Anonymous

4

Q: What is "as English verbs go"?

I found the clause "as English verbs go" in one of the answers on ELL: In The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (p.113-4), this is called "motional be", and it's very unusual as English verbs go. In this meaning, be appears only in perfect constructions [...] It was later edited to ...

meaning-in-context phrase-meaning

Anonymous

Can anyone explain the weird things I say? Stay tuned! Only time will tell.

Damkerng T.

> I'm taking this phrase as a normal phrase [However, in the original post, I found it quite strange].
as English verbs go...
is a normal usage of 'as [something/s] goes/go'

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