Language Overflow

4:20 AM

> The researchers recorded neuronal activity using electrodes inserted into the hippocampus of 12 people as they heard fill-in-the-blank sentences with an obvious answer: "He swept the floor with a ________," for example.

> In most of the subjects, the hippocampus showed highly synchronized activity as they homed in on the right answer while hearing the sentences but before a picture of the answer was displayed, a sign that the region was making associations throughout the brain to come up with the right word: in this case, broom.

sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160921103427.htm

Sawasdee khrap all

> In 10 of the 12 subjects, only constrained sentences -- those with a single obvious answer -- caused a burst of synchronized theta waves in the hippocampus, activity characteristic of the hippocampus when it makes a memory association.

> For life is but a dream whose shapes return,
Some frequently, some seldom, some by night
And some by day, some night and day: we learn,
The while all change and many vanish quite,
In their recurrence with recurrent changes
A certain seeming order; where this ranges
We count things real; such is memory's might.

Damkerng T.

9:00 AM

Sawasdee khrap!

CowperKettle

9:53 AM

@Cardinal It takes two to toothache, two to toothache, two to really get the feeling of the toothache..

Two to toothache, two to toothache: the patient and the dentist

It Takes Two to Tango - Louis Armstrong

►

CowperKettle

10:19 AM

the weekend will be beautiful, a golden autumn

Deo

10:48 AM

Ni Hao!

Damkerng T.

Ni hao!

@CowperKettle With some showers!

CowperKettle

11:05 AM

@DamkerngT. Wow

You'll have 41 mm of rain tomorrow

Damkerng T.

:D

Rubisco

11:16 AM

Oh, the new Chrome looks a bit tidier.

CowperKettle

Yes

The buttons are smaller

The new activity indicator in fixed tabs is more visible

Election officials say that the figure 62.2% produced by 100 voting stations in Saratov Region is "mathematical coincidence"

The joke of the day.

Damkerng T.

Which Chrome version are you using?

CowperKettle

> Версия 53.0.2785.116 m (64-bit)

1

Q: Must an article come before this sentence?

Absence of timely treatment of arthritis can worsen the symptoms of the disease. According to Grammarly, the article 'an' or 'the' ought to be used at the start of the above sentence. Is this absolutely necessary? I remember noticing quite a few contexts which use this style of writing: dr...

I would leave it anarthrous, or add "the", but not "an"

Damkerng T.

11:41 AM

@CowperKettle Thanks!

Hmm... I don't see much difference from my old version (48).

@CowperKettle nods -- I think an would be weird.

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. The interface is a bit different (I like it more)

CowperKettle

12:04 PM

> In a cuvette with a layer density of 1 cm (Russian)
In a 1 cm pathlength cuvette (English)

CowperKettle

12:18 PM

icoachmath.com/math_dictionary/numerical_coefficient.html

This page is blocked for me

It says "Block reason: GEO IP filter alert. Connection initiated from Russian Federation"

(0:

Damkerng T.

Oh, no! Math is not allowed!

0

Q: 'I feel like bread baked in an oven.' is this sentence correct?

a. I feel like bread baking in an oven. b. I feel like bread baked in an oven. Are both of these sentence correct ? Expecially 'b' is possible in grammar? Someone(we are non native, so not sure 'b' is correct or not) says 'bake is intransitive verb in this sentence, so 'b' is impossible in gram...

grammar past-participle present-participle

Interesting

Damkerng T.

12:55 PM

Phrase of the Day: fundamental attribution error

Damkerng T.

1:25 PM

Word of the Day: landlady

(I didn't know it could mean a pub owner, too.)

Deo

I wonder what would ladyland mean

Rubisco

1:55 PM

-3

Q: What to do if you wish to protest against other users actions

Is there a "board", a comitee, a panel of expert to report when some users are abusing their "power" on stackexchange boards?

support abuse reporting

Nom nom nom

Damkerng T.

@Rubisco Enjoying some snacks, I suppose? :)

0

Q: plural or singular in this sentence:

Which should I write: Successive rules are separated by semicolons Successive rules are separated by a semicolon Successive rules are separated by semicolon In fact after each rule there is a semicolon. Here I don't know successive rules points to two rules separated by a semicolo...

singular-vs-plural

The question makes me think of those sentences such as The teacher told her students to raise their hand(s). (^_^)

Damkerng T.

2:43 PM

Lukas Graham - 7 Years [OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO]

►

Some song

CowperKettle

100 million views

> A child's a plaything for an hour;
Its pretty tricks we try
For that or for a longer space;
Then tire, and lay it by.

But I knew one, that to itself
All seasons could controul;
That would have mock'd the sense of pain
Out of a grieved soul.

Thou, straggler into loving arms,
Young climber up of knees,
When I forget thy thousand ways,
Then life and all shall cease.

(Charles Lamb)

CowperKettle

3:14 PM

> I was able to run 10 km in an hour

Does this indicate past capability, or does it indicate that "I managed to"?

Damkerng T.

3:59 PM

@CowperKettle It's ambiguous to me. Let's see the next opinion. :-)

CowperKettle

(0Ж

(0:

Damkerng T.

4:19 PM

1

Q: 'How much' or 'The degree to which'

Just a simple question about the best sentence construction to express an idea. Is it correct to say: How much I enjoyed the movie is greater than how much I am disappointed by it. I don't if there are specific rules involved but beginning a non-question sentence with "how much" sounds awkwa...

sentence-construction grammaticality

I think the question is more about stylistic choices.

If I suggested anything, wouldn't it make the question proofreading?

(E.g., My disappointment is far outweighed by the enjoyment I've got from the movie.)

Hmm... still not very good, but I'm too lazy to improve it. :P

0

Q: Is there a specific poetry technique to refer to font types?

Source What I mean is a part of the poetry that is in block letters or in italics or in bold to emphasise something. Is there a particular terminology that I can refer this as? An example: When Mom won the Luck's-A-Fortch Tricky-Tune Quiz she took him shopping in the good-as-new station-wa...

poetry

Hmm... a technique?

I don't know its name, but ...

1 kn0w u kan r3ad th1s 2

What's the name of this technique? Does it have a name? I don't know.

Rubisco

4:45 PM

@DamkerngT. "Deterioration of language due to internet"

Damkerng T.

:D

Rubisco

Of course, that's only the case if you're a jaded 'life veteran'.

Hmm, what is the exact use case for single quotes?

CowperKettle

Evening, Rubi!

Rubisco

\o, Art

CowperKettle

5:01 PM

> The fluorescence spectrum of tryptophan in aqueous solution is a wide structureless band with a maximum at 348 nm; its shape and position are mainly determined by the indole ring of the molecule.

With a maximum, or with the maximum?

Rubisco

A

But 'the' works too.

Although I guess science talk prefers 'a'.

Like, 'I've seen a lot of maximums in my life. This is one of them.'

Damkerng T.

nods -- I like a better, too.

CowperKettle

> I've seen my share of maximums on spectra
I've seen my share of minimums as well
Maybe I have a broken down detector
Maybe I'm not, for who can really tell

Let it be a then (0:

Today's the autumn equinox

Man_From_India

@snailplane A strange sentence. Is that grammatical?

> My brother will not bake a cake perhaps.

Rubisco

I can certainly imagine a context where I would utter it.

Man_From_India

5:15 PM

If that sentence is correct, is the following sentence also correct?

> The witch is a homely woman usually

Rubisco

I don't know whether I'd call it a slip of the tongue or the mind or what, but it usually occurs in speech that you forget the adverb and then insert it in the end.

Man_From_India

> My brother will not bake a cake perhaps.

Rubisco

It might make some of the utterances unusual or clumsy, but I wouldn't go as far as calling it ungrammatical.

Man_From_India

That sentence is from a good written source.

Rubisco

That doesn't mean it's flawless.

Not that this is a flaw.

Man_From_India

5:18 PM

@Rubisco nods

@Rubisco But still it doesn't sound very good to me. Both the sentences.

I actually called the homely sentence ungrammatical.

CowperKettle

spectrofluorometer vs. spectrofluorimeter

Damkerng T.

> This is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night.

> time.com/3988033/transcript-republican-debate-happy-hour

It's interesting to not see a couple articles where I'd expect!

Rubisco

5:34 PM

@DamkerngT. Ugh

They've been exposed to too much headlinese.

Damkerng T.

Thinking to self: one potential disadvantage of learning English from news is you may speak headlinese. :P

CowperKettle

That's very hard to learn English by headlines only

Reminds me of the Russian joke: "Boy brought up by Internet websites goes out, sees clothed women in the streets; shocked"

Rubisco

Other day I went to restaurant. Waiter came and asked me what I wanted eat. I asked him whether was place to wash hands or not, says no. Food delicious, not enjoyed it as I couldn't lick finger.

You know what, I officially advocate an English without articles.

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle LOL

@Rubisco If only it was accepted everywhere ... :P

CowperKettle

5:52 PM

> Washing machine for men.

> The button says: "Wash"

Rubisco

Definitely won't work.

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Argh! What's that "82" for?! (A man doesn't get it. :P)

Rubisco

They'd forget to push the button. Every time.

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. Indeed, they should remove that indicator (0:

Damkerng T.

:D

Rubisco

5:56 PM

@DamkerngT. You'd get a raise of eighty two dollars at work with clean clothes.

Damkerng T.

@Rubisco Liked!

Rubisco

I mean, that's possibly the only good way to promote washing clothes.

For me at least.

Anonymous

6:32 PM

@Man_From_India My brother will not bake a cake perhaps is quite strange.

Anonymous

@CowperKettle Your package arrived! it looks so cool! :-) I've never gotten a package from Russia before.

CowperKettle

@snailplane Wow! I'm glad! (0: It arrived so soon!

Rubisco

@snailplane Woot

CowperKettle

Last time it took a month for a package to reach New York. (0:

@Rubisco I sent Snail a book in Russian (0:

Rubisco

Noice

Just noice

@snailplane I've never received a package before

Well, except that one time

and that other time

and the other time when I bought that

Anonymous

6:41 PM

@CowperKettle I just have to figure out a way to open it without damaging most of the packaging or the book. :-)

CowperKettle

@Rubisco Gimme the address, I may send you a New Year card (0:

@snailplane (0:

Rubisco

@snailplane Like cutting a cake with a knife

What's the worst that can happen?

@CowperKettle Signed by Putin himselves?

CowperKettle

@Rubisco That would be hard to achieve. (0:

Maybe if you wrote to Putin's official office, his workers might send something.

Or asked for enrollment in the Chem section of Lomonosov State University, say

They have special courses to help students learn Russian fast

Anonymous

I did it! :-)

Anonymous

And oh my, it's amazing! I have to take a picture :-)

CowperKettle

6:46 PM

Yay! (0:

Rubisco

Which will last, the picture or the book?

Anonymous

2

Rubisco

The picture, then

CowperKettle

Beautiful. (0:

It is an SF book. (0:

Anonymous

Aww, you signed it <3

Rubisco

6:52 PM

SHOW US HIS SIGN, SHOW US HIS SIGN

CowperKettle

<3

Rubisco

Not that I'm planning to make fun of it.

His signature might just be like a bird.

Damkerng T.

A sci-fi novel about snails from the Moon?! :P

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. Unfortunately, I did not read it. I should read it.

Damkerng T.

BTW, congrats @snailplane!

CowperKettle

7:05 PM

Strugatsky brothers have a cult status here among some.

Snail on the Slope

Snail on the Slope (Russian - "Улитка на склоне") is a sci-fi novel by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. The novel was written in 1965, but it had a difficult time getting to readers, and was not published in a full version until 1972, in the Federal Republic of Germany. In the spring of 1966 the so-called "Forest" part of the novel was separately published in the USSR. In 1968 the other part was published, in the journal "Baikal". The novel was first published in its entirety in the USSR in 1988. The brothers Strugatsky have described this novel as the most perfect and the most valuable of their works...

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Ahh

CowperKettle

I only read one book by the Strugatsky brothers, "Inhabited Island"

Damkerng T.

What does "YHC" mean?

Oh, I see! Улитка на склоне

CowperKettle

Yes (0:

Kobayashi Issa

Kobayashi Issa (小林一茶, June 15, 1763 – January 5, 1828), was a Japanese poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū sect known for his haiku poems and journals. He is better known as simply Issa (一茶), a pen name meaning Cup-of-tea (lit. "one [cup of] tea"). He is regarded as one of the four haiku masters in Japan, along with Bashō, Buson and Shiki - "the Great Four, Basho, Buson, Issa, Shiki". Reflecting the popularity and interest in Issa as man and poet, Japanese books on Issa outnumber those on Buson, and almost equal in number those on Bashō. == Life == Issa was born and registered as...

They took the title from his poem

> O snail
Climb Mount Fuji,
But slowly, slowly!

Damkerng T.

A-ha!

CowperKettle

7:07 PM

So it's kind of on the slope of the mount Fuji

Damkerng T.

The poem reminds me a little of Jacob's Ladder.

CowperKettle

nods

Anonymous

@CowperKettle Thank you for the book, I love it! :-)

CowperKettle

@snailplane I'm glad you love it, dear Snails!

Now you have books in three languages at home!

Anonymous

I have books in French and Spanish, too :-)

CowperKettle

7:17 PM

Aww! (0:

Anonymous

@CowperKettle перец!

CowperKettle

@snailplane (0:

Anonymous

I am a fan of перец. Or should I say I'm a fan of перцы?

Anonymous

I learned a word :-)

CowperKettle

The singular form is "perets", the plural is "pertsy" (0:

In Russian slang of the 1990s, "perets" is a young man

A bloke (0:

Anonymous

7:23 PM

Oh! That's different.

Anonymous

The dictionary didn't tell me that part. :-)

CowperKettle

But when the book was written, in the 1960s, "perets" was just "pepper" (0:

Multitran translates it as "dude" in the last line (0:

Good evening, Stoney!

Anonymous

@CowperKettle I like the one with 'i'. It rolls off the tongue better :-)

CowperKettle

@snailplane (0:

Anonymous

7:43 PM

@CowperKettle But in this case, Perets is a name, right? :-)

CowperKettle

@snailplane Yes, I've read the first page in Russian now, and it is definitely the name of a man

They have strange names in that novel (0:

Good night!

It's 1 am here (0:

4

Q: Is it correct to use zero article in this sentence?

There is an exercise in Gateway B1 Student's book, page 13, where you need to choose the correct article. The answer key for this sentence: The results show that 0 / the teenagers who eat with their families five or six times a week usually get top marks at school. says that we can't have ...

articles definite-article zero-article

A very good question by a fellow Russian (0:

Cardinal

8:13 PM

> You can stare at the moon by yourself,
> take a laugh like a loon by yourself,
> spend a lot, go to pot on your own,
> there's a lot of things that you can do alone!

> But listen here...

> Takes two to tango, two to tango,
> two to really get the feeling of romance.

@CowperKettle What a song :-)

Damkerng T.

8:37 PM

"You can sail on a ship by yourself" -- Funny that I just heard the idiom hit the head a couple minutes ago. :-)

Damkerng T.

8:47 PM

Word of the Day: umwelt

Damkerng T.

10:06 PM

5

Q: Is it correct to use zero article in this sentence?

There is an exercise in Gateway B1 Student's book, page 13, where you need to choose the correct article. The answer key for this sentence: The results show that ∅ / the teenagers who eat with their families five or six times a week usually get top marks at school. says that we can't have ...

articles definite-article zero-article

Hmm... assuming null contexts (i.e., contexts that have no substance, like in learner's books; they have no substance because they usually are just single sentences), I think I agree with the book (not what the OP thinks of "correct" answers). The results show that teenagers who ear with their families five or six times a week ... and I don't like the food at school. But both options would be possible in both sentences in real contexts.

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