@Rathony My first language doesn't have any of the "th" sounds, which helps me understand the OP's situation. In my humble opinion, even though English "th" sounds, whose information, like many other topics in English, can be found almost everywhere on the web, it shouldn't be off-topic if, say (and this is real), I heard someone say the name Martha and thought it sounded like [mɑrt˭ɑ] and posted a question asking about it. — Damkerng T.22 mins ago
I think we interpret "basic questions spelling, meaning or pronunciation" differently. The way I understand it, this question is more about listening (though, of course, what the OP listened to is a pronunciation given by a dictionary, but that shouldn't make it off-topic, in my humble opinion). That off-topic reason, as I understand it, is for the cases where such information (spelling, meaning, or pronunciation of a word or a phrase) should be easy to find in dictionaries, and once a learner looks it up, such information should solve the learner's problem (which is not always the case). — Damkerng T.4 mins ago
Not fluently, but I lived Chinese language culture for 12 years.
Now, I understand the OP's problem. But as I said, you have to know alphabet to read English. You have to know IPA keys or whatever keys you have in your country to pronounce.
Chinese people can speak English far better than Korean or Japanese.
@snailboat Hi. Is my restriction on "create a new room" privilege completely reversed by you? Because I still can't see a "create room" option when i click on your avatar. Or is it only pertaining to you? Thought I'd ask.
An hour ago, I was reviewing a close-vote queue and found a question with 3 close-votes as unclear what you're asking.
I had two choices. Cast my close-vote or edit the question that was unclear because the Original Poster doesn't seem to have proficiency in English. I chose the latter as the q...
The question is unclear to me. I suppose it is: How can we appropriately form questions which must elicit responses in the form: [Optional introductory phrase] + by + [-ing form] + [more]? Voting to close as unclear what's being asked. — Jim Reynolds2 hours ago
To be fair to Jim, he was the first close voter (if I'm not mistaken), and he left a comment, so the OP could edit their question to add more information.
An hour ago, I was reviewing a close-vote queue and found a question with 3 close-votes as unclear what you're asking.
I had two choices. Cast my close-vote or edit the question that was unclear because the Original Poster doesn't seem to have proficiency in English. I chose the latter as the q...
@Rathony I don't see anything particularly trollish. In fact, this is a pattern I've commented on somewhere on Meta: every three or four months we seem to get a user who's really perplexed by the perfect and asks a series of questions trying to pin down their understanding. I think it's innocent.
@Rathony I think OP is troubled by what in the Canonical post I called time-shifting with perfects--the fact that use of the perfect creates an opportunity to shift RT to an earlier timeframe. He is looking for a "rule" for when this shift may be effected, and is currently hypothesizing that Reference Time shifts are attributable to the local semantics.
@Man_From_India The semi-auxiliary (I'd call it a semi-modal, but we're talking about the same thing) here would not be bare about to but BE about to, like BE going to or BE fixing to or BE able to.
I tend to agree that the most parsimonious analysis is to treat BE about (to VERB) as a fixed construction which cannot be analyzed into components which may be categorized as distinct "words".
My question starts from this question which asks about difference between currently and right now, which is not that complicated. However, in the middle of exchanging comments, I found a few points in relation to classifying adverbs and prepositions that I would like to ask here.
Wikipedia (I ...
@Rathony I think that oxford modern grammar use that term. Intransitive preposition. I dont have the book, but i think i have seen that term somewhere.
@Rathony I disagree; there is a very great difference. "I am to go to London" means that it is expected that I will go to London at some time in the future; "I am about to go to London" means specifically that I am right now actively engaged in preparation for the trip -- actually starting the trip is the next phase.
@StoneyB Yes, but how about these two? I was about to call you, but something urgent came up vs I was to call you, but something urgent came up vs I was going to call you, but something urgent came up.
Actually three.
If you are talking about future aspects, the meaning could be significantly different, but for the Past Simple tense, I don't think it is that significant.
@Rathony I was soon to call you and I was to call you soon mean different things. The first means Shortly after that it turned out that I called you; the second means I was expected to call you in the near future.
@Rathony Or, more famously, "To boldly go where no man has gone before"!
(To stop the bus) as a whole an infinitive construction. Does any adverb modify the whole thing? I dont know. That is what I asked here some time back :-)
@Rathony Historically, it is a preposition. (Even more remotely, it's an entire preposition phrase!). But if you regard it as wholly grammaticized, the PoS becomes irrelevant.
But right doesn't modify prepositions. It mostly modifies locatives; the core locatives are preposition phrases, but some are not: right here, right now, right then.
My question starts from this question which asks about difference between currently and right now, which is not that complicated. However, in the middle of exchanging comments, I found a few points in relation to classifying adverbs and prepositions that I would like to ask here.
Wikipedia (I ...
A very good discussion. ... I agree with most of what Alan Munn says, but I'm not an adherent of his particular grammatical sect. I don't characterize NPs as 'Determiner Phrases', so his analogy breaks down for me. I characterize now as a pro-PP rather than itself being a preposition. But that's a very subtle distinction, which isn't really relevant here.
And now I have to rush away and go to Valentine's Day dinner with my wife. I'll catch y'all later
I always get confused between these two sentences:
Why are you making noise?
Why you are making noise?
Could anyone put light in the differences between the two?
An hour ago, I was reviewing a close-vote queue and found a question with 3 close-votes as unclear what you're asking.
I had two choices. Cast my close-vote or edit the question that was unclear because the Original Poster doesn't seem to have proficiency in English. I chose the latter as the q...
I always get confused between these two sentences:
Why are you making noise?
Why you are making noise?
Could anyone put light in the differences between the two?
