Search found 137 matches
- Fri Sep 23, 2005 9:56 am
- Forum: Languages of the World
- Topic: Lexical Gaps
- Replies: 42
- Views: 91335
Perhaps it's because Anglo-Saxon food isn't meant to be enjoyed! Such lexical gaps are really quite subjective. As languages deal with the stuff of human experience, it is always possible to translate well-formed language. However, a certain language may have a particularly succinct or beautiful way...
- Wed Sep 21, 2005 6:25 pm
- Forum: Grammar
- Topic: sped vs. speeded
- Replies: 10
- Views: 34322
Re: tense
Hi all, This is my first time to post. I am a Japanese student learning Enghlish. :D Here's my question. Are the following sentences both correct? If so, what is the difference between them? (1) I decided to wait at the station until my wife came . (2) I decided to wait at the station until my wife...
- Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:57 am
- Forum: Grammar
- Topic: sped vs. speeded
- Replies: 10
- Views: 34322
For the phrase to speed up , speeded up is the most usual past form. I have heard sped up in speech, but it looks awkward written. I know of no other verbs that form alternative pasts by either regular -ed or vowel gradation. There are a handful that form alternative pasts with either -ed or -t , ho...
- Tue Sep 13, 2005 7:35 pm
- Forum: Languages of the World
- Topic: Strict Swedes and forceful Finns
- Replies: 1
- Views: 7427
Strict Swedes and forceful Finns
My attention was drawn to a packet of cigarettes from Finland. Being bilingual, the law requires the EU health warning to be in Swedish as well as Finnish. The packet read: Älä pakota lapsia hengittämään savua. Låt inte barn andas rök. This, I gather, translates as Don't force children to inhale smo...
- Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:59 am
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: Holiday?
- Replies: 13
- Views: 24915
Ah, now I am enlightened. It's quite a nice thing to have a psychological turning points in the calendar. We have the last Monday in August off -- a kind of last chance get away weekend. I think it's officially called something rather mundane like Late Summer Bank Holiday. As for Labo(u)r Day, we te...
- Sun Sep 04, 2005 8:16 pm
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: Holiday?
- Replies: 13
- Views: 24915
Holiday?
I think it must be a US thing. A friend from the States mentioned that this is a holiday weekend. Could anyone enlighten me what he's celebrating?
-- Garzo.
-- Garzo.
- Sun Sep 04, 2005 8:30 am
- Forum: Etymology
- Topic: Rootin' Tootin'
- Replies: 2
- Views: 15764
Rootin' Tootin'
Well, there have a number of thunderstorms recently, and I haven't been allowed to play outside, so I've had to sit in watching cowboy films. I wonder if all you lovely people could embroider me a comprehensive history of the phrase rootin' tootin' . Please feel free to add any other cowboy slang yo...
- Wed Aug 31, 2005 10:15 am
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: EDUCATION
- Replies: 2
- Views: 7096
- Sun Jul 31, 2005 9:27 am
- Forum: Grammar
- Topic: like to do different from like doing?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 36202
- Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:54 pm
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: litotes
- Replies: 10
- Views: 17110
- Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:50 pm
- Forum: Grammar
- Topic: subjectless clauses
- Replies: 10
- Views: 29312
Actually, rather can mean a reduction in the strength of a meaning, but it can also mean an increase! Either way, this word causes the strength to shift only a shade each way. Because of this, rather is usually more than a little or a bit , but less than quite . For example, to say that someone is r...
- Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:30 pm
- Forum: Grammar
- Topic: like to do different from like doing?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 36202
The difference between the use of the gerund and the infinitive with the catenative like is so mild that it's probably not a good thing to teach: teaching it might induce more confusion than is necessary. Generally, the infinitive with like implies habitual action: the infinitive is the verbal noun ...
- Fri Jul 29, 2005 7:22 pm
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: Mental leakage reduces efficiency
- Replies: 13
- Views: 24796
Oh dear, Turkish sounds like Scots Gaelic! I think those languages have very distinctive phonetic palettes, but that's just me. The registering thing is not such a bind: they just want you to tell them where you come from, so they can see how people from different places hear accents. I don't imagin...