English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

RegDwight ΒВB

12:04

0

Q: How to Identify a Rhetorical Question?

I am familiar with the idea of a rhetorical question, but what is the grammatical criterion to ask or identify one?

rhetoric

NARQ? Gen-ref?

I am at a loss.

Matt Эллен

we should all answer with rhetorical questions

KitFox

Have you checked a dictionary?

RegDwight ΒВB

Are you really sure you know what a rhetorical question is?

Matt Эллен

@RegDwightΒВB hmmmmmmmm gen ref, I guess.

Gigili

Are you alright?

RegDwight ΒВB

12:06

@MattЭллен Well you're a second too late.

Matt Эллен

:D story of my life

KitFox

I think that would make a good ELL question.

RegDwight ΒВB

@MattЭллен You realize I'm impatient today?

Matt Эллен

I agree

RegDwight ΒВB

@KitFox how so?

Matt Эллен

12:07

@RegDwightΒВB I hadn't. Good to know.

RegDwight ΒВB

Rhetorical questions work exactly the same in all languages, okay?

Matt Эллен

I was impatient yesterday.

KitFox

I could see NNS asking how to distinguish rhetorical questions from regular questions.

RegDwight ΒВB

The same way they do in their mother tongue?

KitFox

Impatiens

:"Balsamine" redirects here. For the French Revolutionary Calendar date, see September 27 Impatiens () is a genus of about 850–1,000 species of flowering plants, widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and tropics. Together with the puzzling Hydrocera triflora, this genus makes up the family Balsaminaceae. Such a situation is highly unusual, and phylogenetic studies might reveal that Impatiens needs to be split up; some of its species might be closer to Hydrocera than to their presumed congeners. Common names include impatiens, jewelweeds, and, somewhat ambiguously, "...

@RegDwightΒВB Are you certain?

Chinese makes a distinction.

RegDwight ΒВB

12:09

@KitFox Can't you tell?

@KitFox And how would I know that?

KitFox

Aren't you some sort of language expert?

RegDwight ΒВB

Who? Me?

KitFox

Don't you speak 120 languages or something?

RegDwight ΒВB

Is that over 9000?

KitFox

Isn't it?

RegDwight ΒВB

12:10

If it is, then yes, I guess?

Matt Эллен

Are you guys comedians, or what?

RegDwight ΒВB

Are you comedians guys?

KitFox

Augh. Don't you know I have to do consulting today?

RegDwight ΒВB

Consulting? Is that a politically correct form of insulting?

Matt Эллен

Only if you're salaried

KitFox

12:11

I hate this game.

RegDwight ΒВB

I hate celery.

KitFox

Is it possible to be a salaried consultant?

RegDwight ΒВB

Only with mustard.

Gigili

Is this good?

Matt Эллен

@KitFox I don't think so

Gigili

12:12

I mean, correct.

KitFox

@Gigili I think it sounds good.

Hello, sweetie.

Gigili

@KitFox You mean excellent?

Hello.

KitFox

I mean whatever you want me to mean.

Matt Эллен

KitFox

sighs adoringly

Gigili

12:18

My life seems repetitive. I ought to change something.

Matt Эллен

the frequency

or the wavelength

Gigili

Maybe my hairstyle?

Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! And die some more! I hate you!

Matt Эллен

new shoes?

RegDwight ΒВB

Here's some change you can believe in.

Gigili

Nice.

When I say, "I am familiar with the idea", I mean I have heard some of them, and can tell them apart from the ordinary sort (not always, though). — argentocyanide 13 mins ago

KitFox

12:22

@RegDwightΒВB I wish I could see that. I'm sure it is very funny.

RegDwight ΒВB

You can't?

What is this grammar?

KitFox

It's broke.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox right click -> view image. it should show up for you, it's a regular imgur pic

RegDwight ΒВB

Matt Эллен

obviously, it's hilarious

KitFox

12:23

roflcopter

user19161

12:35

@RegDwightΒВB Sometimes, what we cannot see is more real than what we can see.

Matt Эллен

so pay attention to voices in your head.

user19161

@MattЭллен Geezis.

Matt Эллен

well, I don't hear him, but some people do

user19161

@MattЭллен I am so slow. I took a minute to understand this.

Gigili

Can you really see that thing in person? Can you really?

Then I hate you.

RegDwight ΒВB

12:44

@KitFox so before we move on, how does them Chine'se ask rhetorical question? Teach me.

Gigili

Not that I liked you before.

user19161

@Gigili Well, it is true that some people have seen things others have not seen. And I don't mean that in the obvious manner. I have talked to many people who have had supernatural visions.

RegDwight ΒВB

Feb 10 '11 at 15:33, by RegDwight

"He who has visions should go see a doctor".

user19161

These people are not crazy or evil people, so I believe what they tell me.

RegDwight ΒВB

They are not crazy or evil, just ill.

user19161

12:46

@RegDwightΒВB The doctor needs to see them for himself to believe.

RegDwight ΒВB

You mean like in person lol?

Gigili

@JasperLoy You believe whatever a not crazy or evil person tells you?

RegDwight ΒВB

"I am not crazy or evil."

user19161

@Gigili I know some of them very well.

user19161

Do you believe whatever your science textbook tells you then?

KitFox

12:51

@RegDwightΒВB Oh, I kind of made that up.

user19161

Have you actually done those experiments yourself?

RegDwight ΒВB

@KitFox How could you?

user19161

Have you collected sufficient statistics and analysed them carefully?

RegDwight ΒВB

There I was perusing Wikipedia, and what is this?

user19161

And my above questions are meant to be rhetorical.

KitFox

12:52

Well, I mean there is the question particle "ma" and the suggestive particle "ba."

But I think you can still use "ma" for rhetorical questions. I don't really know.

RegDwight ΒВB

@KitFox so mothers are investigative and fathers are suggestive. Interesting.

KitFox

Indeed.

Except that mothers and questions are horses.

RegDwight ΒВB

I know.

KitFox

My Chinese surname is Horse.

user19161

@KitFox Mine is Dawn.

Robusto

12:55

Two down, two to go. Flying Spaghetti Monsters, give me strength ...

RegDwight ΒВB

A friend of mine who studied Chinese would sometimes produce a sentence like "Ma ma ma, ma ma ma ma ma mamama ma" and translate it as "The mother is riding a horse out there alone in the field with her hair all messy because her child is ill" or some such.

user19161

@Robusto I give you strength Robusto!

KitFox

@RegDwightΒВB Mother urged the horse to slow down.

I think.

user19161

@RegDwightΒВB Unable to parse!

RegDwight ΒВB

@Robusto you counting days or eggs? Or stupid fellow students you had to kill?

KitFox

12:57

The last one is actually man, not ma.

simchona

> I extremely want to know that men in west how to think about these!Men in west means Americans and Europeans!
> These questions are that when you, Americans or Europeans, see someone who sweat armpit into wet, how do you think about these?

RegDwight ΒВB

@JasperLoy try jQuery.

user19161

@KitFox Wait, you can parse that?

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВB Days. It's all about the days.

simchona

I love waking up to ELU

RegDwight ΒВB

12:58

Love the smell of ELU in the morning.

Robusto

It smells like ... wiktionary.

user19161

Wiktionary does not smell good.

KitFox

@JasperLoy It's a very recognizable common Chinese tongue twister.

We learned it in first year.

RegDwight ΒВB

Jul 2 at 15:32, by RegDwight ΒВB

Is that a hidden track on the Nevermind?

Robusto

Wiktionary is an acquired smell.

user19161

12:59

@KitFox Oh dear! This shows how bad my Chinese is!

user19161

However, Wikipedia smells good to me.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВB It's not "the Nevermind." It's just Nevermind. It's people like you who killed Kurt Cobain.

KitFox

Speaking of smell memes...

yesterday, by KitFox

Speaking of smell memes, I just created a new one.

RegDwight ΒВB

@Robusto the the is not part of the title. Learn some grammar.

Also, I am not Kurt Cobain.

Matt Эллен

but are you killed kurt cobain?

Robusto

13:03

@RegDwightΒВB Learn some English grammar. What you had sounds too Deutschy.

user19161

Wikibooks don't smell good either.

RegDwight ΒВB

@Robusto That was my intention.

Robusto

@MattЭллен He is. He doesn't want you to know, but he is the one.

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy probably better than wookiebooks

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВB "That's a bingo!" - Hans Landa

RegDwight ΒВB

13:04

@Robusto You see, I have them tiny shiny pearls just for the few congnoscenti like you, and you appreciate them about as much as Jasper.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВB Hey, I recognized it. I just dissed you for it, that's all. It's called ELU chat. You should have your people look into it.

RegDwight ΒВB

But I started with the dissing. That's an important fact worth stating.

KitFox

I love watching the two of you go at it.

RegDwight ΒВB

Also, no Poland was involved.

Robusto

Yet.

RegDwight ΒВB

13:06

@KitFox you love anything and anyone as long as there's an "it" involved.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВB You misspelled "sex" ...

KitFox

That's not true.

Fat people. Ick. Just disturbing.

RegDwight ΒВB

@Robusto did you hear how ze Germans got kicked out of Poland by Italians? Unerhört! Wouldn't have happened under Mussolini.

Robusto

You misspelled "Russolini" ...

RegDwight ΒВB

You misspelled "Russ Meyer".

Mitch

13:14

@RegDwightΒВB It's better than the preposition/great majority of questions. It's actually interesting. It could be fixed. There's lots worse. Why not let it stand.

RegDwight ΒВB

Well the preposition questions are destined for ELL.

Anyway, is the question fixed yet? "Can" is not enough.

Matt Эллен

if only they were destined for 'ell

RegDwight ΒВB

Anything that can be fixed can be reopened.

user19161

@Gigili You don't have to change it if you like the repetitions. But I guess in this case you don't.

RegDwight ΒВB

1

Q: Etymology of "to be like" meaning "to say"

It seems that "to be like" is an informal phrase for "to say". E.g. She was so angry, she was like "I'm breaking up with you", and I was like "I'm sorry", and she was like "Go away". Is this a recent thing? When did "to be like" start to be used to mean "to say"? It doesn't seem to be in an...

etymology slang colloquialisms

Sounds dupey.

Mitch

13:18

@RegDwightΒВB you're closing things autocratically too soon.

RegDwight ΒВB

I want them fixed. I want a tidy place.

Again, if a question indeed can be fixed, I don't see a problem.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВB I knew it. ELU is fixed. I want my money back.

Matt Эллен

Closing is for the purpose of editing in to shape as well as getting rid of crap

Gigili

Said the philosopher.

Matt Эллен

To the stripper.

Mitch

13:22

There's crap and there's crap. This isn't that bad. Lots of questions should be closed before this one. Let some close votes work on it first instead of so quickly cutting it off.

Matt Эллен

I never said it was crap

RegDwight ΒВB

Anyway, in the words of Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator, "I got nothing invested in this!"

user19161

@Mitch Your first sentence shows that in language, A and A is not exactly the same as A.

Mitch

right, because it's easy for you to close and be done with it.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch - if you edit the question into one worth answering it will get reopened. As it is, it doesn't even make sense.

RegDwight ΒВB

13:26

It's been open for like twelve minutes.

Which is what Kevin Spacey was trying to say.

Mitch

@JasperLoy Natural language is not logical/formal language There might be phonetic differences. There might be discourse differences. There might be alternative punctuation (the wiki article (I know, I know) mentions a punctuation mark for rhetorical questions (not adopted)).

@RegDwightΒВB Thanks.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwightΒВB d'oh! oh well :D

RegDwight ΒВB

If you wanna answer NARQs, that's your decision, not mine. I will point out, however, that relativism doesn't sit well with me. Of course there are worse questions around. You can justify stealing by saying that murder is worse, and murder by saying that there've been entire wars.

It's just that those not-so-bad questions are sometimes one of the reasons for the much worse ones. Just like stealing sometimes leads to murder and murder can lead to a war.

Speaking of which, Xblast time.

Matt Эллен

I see, so capitalism is war.

user19161

@RegDwightΒВB What has answering an NARQ got to do with murder? Geezis.

Matt Эллен

13:36

it's a gateway misdemeanour

user19161

I just find that in the above case, it distracts from the issue being discussed.

RegDwight ΒВB

@JasperLoy about as much as answering a question has to do with there being other questions.

Matt Эллен

first you answer NARQ questions, then you start writing blogs about how you can't understand people with foreign accents, then you get arrested for hate speech, then while you're doing community service your face gets eaten by someone high on cocaine.

3

it's the circle of life

KitFox

I hate it when that happens.

user19161

@MattЭллен Sounds pretty dramatic, but not as dramatic as my life. :-)

Matt Эллен

13:41

yup. if that's your morning, you know it's gonna be a bad day

user19161

@KitFox Have some coffee then. I am having some now.

KitFox

Oh, no thanks. I'm drinking some Pepsi.

Mitch

@MattЭллен or you've just gotten all the crap out of the way and it can only get better.

Matt Эллен

heh. you sound like an optimist!

Mitch

@MattЭллен sure. you might get to sit in a cell by yourself. once the beating stops.

user19161

13:49

Looking at the list of stars, I find that I have not had a star in this room for very long, sad panda.

Robusto

Who you callin' "sad panda"?

Mitch

@JasperLoy 'eating someones face' would get a start -and- a sad panda.

Hold on...you'd prefer a happy panda?

Matt Эллен

I think this panda looks happy

user19161

@Robusto Actually, I don't even know what it means, I guess it just means a panda that is sad, so that is me.

Robusto

You need more bamboo in your diet, clearly.

user19161

13:56

@MattЭллен I think the donkey it is sitting on looks happy too.

Matt Эллен

possibly

Robusto

2

Q: Etymology of "to be like" meaning "to say"

It seems that "to be like" is an informal phrase for "to say". E.g. She was so angry, she was like "I'm breaking up with you", and I was like "I'm sorry", and she was like "Go away". Is this a recent thing? When did "to be like" start to be used to mean "to say"? It doesn't seem to be in an...

etymology slang colloquialisms

After looking at @Matt's Valley Girl link, which contains two excellent answers by Kosmonaut and nohat, I believe this is a dupe and should be merged. @RegDwightB?

RegDwight ΒВB

44 mins ago, by RegDwight ΒВB

Sounds dupey.

Robusto

Is there recognition of a quotative "all" now, as in "He was all, 'Get outta my grill, man,' and I was like, 'Bring it, bitch'"? — Robusto 34 secs ago

My comment on nohat's answer.

RegDwight ΒВB

I just thought that we had yet another question specifically about etymology. I might be mistaken.

Robusto

14:05

Damn, this site's gone to hell since the glory days, no?

RegDwight ΒВB

6

A: Why do like loads of girls my age like saying "like" so much, like?

I disagree with Martha (for the first time). The first instances I'm aware of involving the use of "like" in such a way go back to the Beat culture of the 1950s.

@Robusto It's the straight line of life.

Robusto

I read those answers and can only conclude we have definitely lost that Golden Age feel.

RegDwight ΒВB

mate p*** off. I belive what my dick f****** tells me. Let's just forget about this post. It can be an interesting discussion for others to read. — JamesHH 29 mins ago

Gone to hell, you say? You phantasize.

Gigili

@RegDwightΒВB In the third paragraph of Kosmo's answer a "from" should be removed.

I can't edit it.

Actually I can, but the system is a bit silly.

RegDwight ΒВB

With all due respect, "I belive what my dick f****** tells me" is not a rule of formal English that I am familiar with. The actual rules are outlined elsewhere on this site and clearly contradict what you say. — RegDwight ΒВB 15 secs ago

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

14:15

oh, he's using "dick" as a short-form for dictionary? yikes

2

Matt Эллен

aye

RegDwight ΒВB

@Gigili oh yeah, thx, dun.

Matt Эллен

speling aint importunt to him

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Nor is answering questions properly

Robusto

@MrShinyandNew安宇 So the proper insult would be "Hey, suck my dictionary, mate."

RegDwight ΒВB

14:29

Certainly suck is a short form as well.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

suctionary my dictionary

RegDwight ΒВB

Doesn't look liek a virb.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I verbed it

RegDwight ΒВB

I think the full form must be liposuck or some such.

Matt Эллен

some suck?

RegDwight ΒВB

14:30

Liposuch or some suck.

Yes!

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВB No Dutch in chat.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I back-formed it from dictionary then verbed it. It's perfectly cromulent.

2

RegDwight ΒВB

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I will chrome your lent, too.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I don't do lent anymore now that I'm an atheist.

RegDwight ΒВB

@Robusto not entirely true. Cerberus is lurking right there.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 oh noes please not those memories.

12

Q: Is there a double-meaning to "picking my belly button" in this context?

I understand all the individual words in the following remark, but there doesn't seem to be any connection between the first half and the second. I am left wondering whether there is an English idiom that gives a double-meaning to part of it (perhaps "picking my belly button"?), but if so it does...

meaning jokes

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

14:36

heheh

Matt Эллен

I'm not a Christian, but I gave up mining for flint

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I'm not a comedian, but Rimmer's deleted answer on that question is pretty humorous

(unintentionally)

Gigili

14:56

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Please share with us poor >10k users.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

 Well, the author of the line is Emo Philips, a comedian well-known for his offensive religious jokes. I reckon that what he wanted to say by the quote is something along the lines:

    I'm not Catholic = I'm not a good person, but ...

    ... I gave up picking my belly button for lint = I started working towards becoming a better person.

He basically compared "being Catholic" to "picking your belly button for lint" as "two very similar things which contribute to your personality at the same level = almost none".

RegDwight ΒВB

-3

Q: Is 'Good Morning' Gramatically correct?

If we observe common grammar, isn't the phrase supposed to be, "Have a Good Morning", or in the least, "Good Morning?"? Do we say, "Good Morning," just because others say it, or is there some actual justification for doing this.

grammaticality

I actually don't understand the question. "[I]sn't the phrase supposed to be ... 'Good Morning?'" Well, it is.

Matt Эллен

I don't get it either

RegDwight ΒВB

I'm not sure why there are two question marks, but that doesn't seem to make a difference.

Gigili

@RegDwightΒВB OK, I'm convinced of your innocence. I'll vote for your proposal.

Matt Эллен

15:02

> Do we say good morning just because others do?

well someone had to say it first, what about them?

RegDwight ΒВB

I mean, if "Good morning?" is grammatical, so is "Good morning!" and "good morning."

Matt Эллен

Maybe a question is grammatically correct, but a statement isn't?

cornbread ninja

Checking.

Matt Эллен

1, 2. 1, 2.

cornbread ninja

flags++;

@MattЭллен keep it on.

Gigili

15:04

@RegDwightΒВB Perhaps they are not sure if it's morning or afternoon, hence "good morning?".

cornbread ninja

April is the cruelest month. The cruelest month.

Gigili

Yes, good morning, yes.

Matt Эллен

@cornbreadninja May is the most polite

cornbread ninja

@MattЭллен really, I mean our spammer is awake.

@MattЭллен I concur.

Gigili

@MattЭллен September is the bestest.

Matt Эллен

15:06

@cornbreadninja yeah, it does look like him

RegDwight ΒВB

In this phrase, just as in many other common ones such as "please", there is considerable ellipsis. I suppose it is short for "Have a good morning", as you suggested, or, in more distant past, "May God give you a good morning". I'm sure you will find numerous theories concerning the original phrase. Good question. It would be interesting to know where it first came up. — JamesHH 9 mins ago

cornbread ninja

August is the smogest.

RegDwight ΒВB

If you look at German or Dutch, the omitted part is simply "I wish you a". Why drag God into this?

Matt Эллен

In English the omitted part is squire

Good morning, squire

RegDwight ΒВB

In more distant part, all of English was about God! I am sure you will find this theory of mine numerous!

Matt Эллен

15:08

lol

Gigili

Sometimes, I wish I could just sit behind a desk all day...

Matt Эллен

me too. I have to programme behind a desk all day

I wonder if there is a universe where root 2 equals 1

rounding errors don't count

RegDwight ΒВB

That's not a rounding error anyway, that's a squaring error.

I wish Nortonn learned formatting. Then some of his questions could actually live.

Matt Эллен

I wonder if mathematicians call their illegitimate children rounding errors?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

They just redefine them as legitimate

RegDwight ΒВB

15:17

Who do you call an ill-leg IT mate?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

all your IT mates are ill-legged. But especially Rob

RegDwight ΒВB

No. He is not legged. He's armed. He's an armed Rob-berry.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

What did Crocodile Dundee say to the three-headed man with no arms and one leg when he came across him while driving his jeep in the outback?

'ello, 'ello, 'ello! You look 'armless! 'op in!

2

RegDwight ΒВB

Jun 7 at 20:44, by RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

So a one-armed bloke walks into a second-hand shop...

Matt Эллен

Jul 9 at 12:36, by KitFox

You didn't just say that.

RegDwight ΒВB

15:21

No, I said that on June 7th.

Matt Эллен

well, OK then

Anonymous

Hello.

Matt Эллен

Hello.

Anonymous

I have a question about English.

My friend asked me "Oh, i bet performance plan is slipping of your mind for a bit, huh?" and I don't know what she meant.

Matt Эллен

nor do I

Anonymous

15:27

Is "slipping of you mind" an idiom?

Matt Эллен

no

not one that I know of, anyway

"Slipping from you mind" is an idiom

Anonymous

What does it mean?

Matt Эллен

that you are forgetting it

Anonymous

Oh, thank you.

Matt Эллен

no problem :)

Anonymous

15:29

I think she wanted to say.

Mitch

"slipping off your mind"

but it's not really an idiom but is understandable.

Matt Эллен

"Slipping from my X" is idiomatic where X is something that can physically or metaphorically grasp.

e.g. grasp, grip

but that doesn't mean forgetting

that means losing control

so just ignore that...

Mitch

(that is, it was a type, missing an 'f') but 'slipping off' is not about forgetting, it's more about leaving 'I slipped off for a but of quiet time'. That is, Matt's suggestion is what the original person should have said.

or not.

RegDwight ΒВB

Commute! Poofffff!

Matt Эллен

cya!

This question is a good example why there is a minimum character limit:

0

Q: Is dd/mm or mm/dd is more widely used in Canada?

Is dd/mm or mm/dd more widely used in Canada? dd = date mm = month I had to add more text otherwise I couldn't post this question - I got the error: "It does not meet our quality standards."

date

Mitch

15:34

you let commuting get in the way?

Robusto

All right. Is it better now? — Cool Elf 21 mins ago

I think I made Cool Elf cry.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

that's the stack-exchange spirit.

Matt Эллен

don't beat yourself up daddioh. I'm sure cool elf's, like, a cool cat, dig?

Robusto

@MattЭллен I dig it. That's, like, far fucking out, man.

Matt Эллен

I want to tag the Canadian date format question with dating-advice

3

but I'll be restrained

toodles!

Gigili

16:04

Bye!

Robusto

I just had my first encounter ever with the word cumulation. Reading is cool.

simchona

0

Q: Doesn't come like that?

=-,.=-.,=-,.=-=,.-=-,.=-,-.=,.=,.=-,.=,.=-=-,. "Success doesn't come easily for him." "A new language doesn't come easily for him." "Come" in this context means "to happen". Success is a state, so success could happen. But a language does not seem to "happen". Is the second sentence...

meaning grammar meaning-in-context usage

Well, if the glitter doesn't give it away

Robusto

Oh, is this a banned user?

simchona

Yup

Robusto

Then I shouldn't have helped him out.

simchona

16:10

Look up "Nortonn S"

As well as a bunch of deleted questions recently

Gigili

16:26

Hmm, that's actually the word I started with. But I still think there's another (even more common) one just around the corner... — kmote 57 secs ago

Cerberus

16:40

Hey @Matt, do you like Mitchell's latest video?

I do.

►

Matt Эллен

17:07

@Cerberus lol. excellent. I am exactly the same on the phone. This is even after two years spent working in a call centre

Cerberus

Haha.

I see.

I actually don't suffer from that symptom.

It is rather that I hate making a call to someone I don't know well.

Matt Эллен

that too

Cerberus

And I tend to be unable to find the right moment to end the conversation when the other person seems in no way inclined to do so.

So it drags on.

But, as soon as the ending sequence has been initiated, I'm fine.

Matt Эллен

Yeah, I'm way too passive in that regard. I'll just wait for them to run out of steam

Cerberus

I also don't have awkward silences, I think.

@MattЭллен It just seems a bit rude to end the conversation.

Matt Эллен

17:10

awkward silences at the end of a conversation are pretty normal for me :)

Cerberus

Oh heh.

Matt Эллен

regardless of being on a phone

Cerberus

I hear nothing...is this an awkward silence?

Matt Эллен

ahem

Robusto

I must've offended someone. I just got a drive-by down-vote on a question.

Cerberus

17:21

Was it a bad question?

Robusto

5

Q: Punctuating question tags: A question mark is always required, isn't it?

Consider the sentence: You didn't leave the dog in the car, did you? In oral English, this statement may be spoken with a rising intonation or a falling one. If the former, it suggests that leaving the dog in the car is a bad thing, and might even suggest incredulity and consternation on th...

punctuation question-tags

You tell me.

Robusto

17:41

Another "fix my sentence" question:

0

Q: Grammar error in this sentence?

are there grammar issues with the following sentence? It is from part of my essay: Furthermore, for those skills which are claimed can be taught after those youngsters come of age as because at that time they would be mentally and physically capable to learn those practical skills which require ...

grammar sentence

Matt Эллен

Robusto

@MattЭллен Yes. Real men will do anything to fool women about how sensitive they are.

4

Matt Эллен

too true

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…