|
|
 #2 (permalink) Fri Feb 13, 2009 17:34 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
Here "halfway" means that a person had swum to the middle of the pool, not all the way across.
_________________
con·text - The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. |
|
 Milanya
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 923
Location: Texas, USA (at present)
|
|
| #3 (permalink) Fri Feb 13, 2009 21:26 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
| Milanya wrote: |
| Here "halfway" means that a person had swum to the middle of the pool, not all the way across. |
This is not out of the blue ;)
But quotes always confuse me. Should we use double quotes for non-spoken words?
_________________
First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English |
|
Gray
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
Posts: 978
Location: Proxima Centauri
|
 |
| #4 (permalink) Fri Feb 13, 2009 21:35 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
What words are non-spoken words? I am not sure what you mean. Can you elaborate on your question?
_________________
con·text - The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. |
|
Milanya
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 923
Location: Texas, USA (at present)
|
|
| #5 (permalink) Fri Feb 13, 2009 21:40 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
| Milanya wrote: |
| Here "halfway" means that... |
Is it okay to enclose 'halfway' in double quotes instead of single quotes?
_________________
First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English |
|
Gray
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
Posts: 978
Location: Proxima Centauri
|
|
| #6 (permalink) Fri Feb 13, 2009 22:06 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
It is OK where I am.
In the United States, we use single quotation marks [ ‘ ’ ] to enclose quoted material (or the titles of poems, stories, articles) within other quoted material:
"'Design' is my favorite poem," he said.
Ralph Ellison recalls the Golden Age of Jazz this way: "It was itself a texture of fragments, repetitive, nervous, not fully formed; its melodic lines underground, secret and taunting; its riffs jeering—'Salt peanuts! Salt peanuts!'"
_________________
con·text - The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. |
|
Milanya
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 923
Location: Texas, USA (at present)
|
|
| #7 (permalink) Fri Feb 13, 2009 22:21 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
| Milanya wrote: |
| It is OK where I am. |
Bear with me for this :)
I would like to know the correct usage of 'OK'.
When it should be 'ok', when it should be 'OK' and when it should be 'O.K.'?
Is it okay? I mean -- does it make any sense? :)
_________________
First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English |
|
Gray
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
Posts: 978
Location: Proxima Centauri
|
|
| #8 (permalink) Fri Feb 13, 2009 22:36 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
It does not make any sense, as it is a part of English language. It is not supposed to make sense. You can use either OK or okay and it will be correct.
OK or okay Informal
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/OK
_________________
con·text - The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. |
|
Milanya
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 923
Location: Texas, USA (at present)
|
|
| #9 (permalink) Sat Feb 14, 2009 18:30 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
| Milanya wrote: |
| It does not make any sense, as it is a part of English language. It is not supposed to make sense. |
So, what things do make sense? Why can't we treat those questions as such things?
_________________
First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English |
|
Gray
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
Posts: 978
Location: Proxima Centauri
|
|
| #10 (permalink) Sat Feb 14, 2009 22:20 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
| Gray wrote: |
| Milanya wrote: |
| It does not make any sense, as it is a part of English language. It is not supposed to make sense. |
So, what things do make sense? Why can't we treat those questions as such things? |
The word okay makes sense, that is, it has an understandable meaning. Your questions have an understandable meaning, too. However, the fact that the word 'okay' is spelled in different ways does not make sense, that is, there is no logical, understandable reason why it is spelled in different ways, according to Milanya. Such things are called idiom. |
|
Cerberus™
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 11 Feb 2009
Posts: 1342
|
|
| #11 (permalink) Sun Feb 15, 2009 0:05 am "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
| Cerberus™ wrote: |
| there is no logical, understandable reason why it is spelled in different ways, according to Milanya. |
Generally speaking, natural languages are not very logical. So many people over such a long time have had a hand in making them into what they are now that the logic was somehow lost. Languages have many rules and even more exceptions.
On the other hand, artificial languages, like Esperanto and C++, have much more inherent logic.
_________________
con·text - The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. |
|
Milanya
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 923
Location: Texas, USA (at present)
|
|
| #12 (permalink) Sun Feb 15, 2009 17:11 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
| Milanya wrote: |
| Generally speaking, natural languages are not very logical. So many people over such a long time have had a hand in making them into what they are now that the logic was somehow lost. |
If I follow the logic, it is a contradiction ;)
| Milanya wrote: |
Languages have many rules and even more exceptions.
On the other hand, artificial languages, like Esperanto and C++, have much more inherent logic. |
If I follow the logic again, it is redundant. Artificial languages can't be illogical -- we can't even say "have much more inherent logic".
(Quoting myself for the first time ;))
| Gray wrote: |
When it should be 'ok', when it should be 'OK' and when it should be 'O.K.'?
Is it okay? I mean -- does it make any sense? |
I did mean -- it is the referent and those questions are antecedent. That's why I asked whether those questions make any sense.
_________________
First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English |
|
Gray
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
Posts: 978
Location: Proxima Centauri
|
|
| #13 (permalink) Sun Feb 15, 2009 20:48 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
Milanya was talking about different stages in the development of a natural language: he conjectures that it might have been quite logical in its primordial stages, but then became more chaotic later on.
In theory, a chaotic artificial language could be made. It is only redundant to you because you have some knowledge of artificial languages and their purpose.
You might have used "are they okay?" instead of "is it okay?" if you were referring to several things, to "those questions", as you just said. |
|
Cerberus™
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 11 Feb 2009
Posts: 1342
|
|
| #14 (permalink) Sun Feb 15, 2009 21:26 pm "halfway" makes me confused |
|
|
| Cerberus™ wrote: |
Milanya was talking about different stages in the development of a natural language: he conjectures that it might have been quite logical in its primordial stages, but then became more chaotic later on.
In theory, a chaotic artificial language could be made. It is only redundant to you because you have some knowledge of artificial languages and their purpose. |
I was just dragging it to the logical end ;) I am not sure whether logic is humane, or it is just that humans are logical.
| Cerberus™ wrote: |
| You might have used "are they okay?" instead of "is it okay?" if you were referring to several things, to "those questions", as just said. |
It would be a disputable thing. Let me gather some clouds -- not in this post but next few ;)
_________________
First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English |
|
Gray
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
Posts: 978
Location: Proxima Centauri
|
|
|
| adopt vs adjust | 'Follow up on' versus 'follow up' |
