IpseDixit - English

Moderator:JackFrost

User avatar
Dormouse559
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:6939
Joined:2010-05-30, 0:06
Real Name:Matthew
Gender:male
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby Dormouse559 » 2016-12-07, 1:26

IpseDixit wrote:What does "lead someone over" mean?
To me it just means "to lead someone to a certain location". You'll see "over" used like that with other verbs, like in "come over", "bring over" and "send over".
N'hésite pas à corriger mes erreurs.

IpseDixit

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby IpseDixit » 2017-04-05, 16:38

Does the adjective "either" imply an inclusive disjunction or an exclusive disjunction? Or does it depend on the context?

For example: "he might make either cake for your party", does this also include the possibility that he could make both cakes?

User avatar
linguoboy
Posts:25540
Joined:2009-08-25, 15:11
Real Name:Da
Location:Chicago
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby linguoboy » 2017-04-05, 16:44

IpseDixit wrote:Does the adjective "either" imply an inclusive disjunction or an exclusive disjunction? Or does it depend on the context?

For example: "he might make either cake for your party", does this also include the possibility that he could make both cakes?

I would say no. To express an inclusive disjunction, you'd need to say something like "He might make either cake for your party, or both" or "He might make one or both cakes for your party".
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

IpseDixit

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby IpseDixit » 2017-04-05, 16:45

linguoboy wrote:
IpseDixit wrote:Does the adjective "either" imply an inclusive disjunction or an exclusive disjunction? Or does it depend on the context?

For example: "he might make either cake for your party", does this also include the possibility that he could make both cakes?

I would say no. To express an inclusive disjunction, you'd need to say something like "He might make either cake for your party, or both" or "He might make one or both cakes for your party".


Ok, thanks!

IpseDixit

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby IpseDixit » 2017-05-10, 14:43

I need help with this sentence:

"It's only since the rise of scientific thought that anybody much has been inclined even to question such a statement, much less disbelieve it."

I'm not sure I get the meaning of it, in particular I'm not sure how this "much... much..." thing works.

---

Also, what does "make joking play for me" mean?

User avatar
Dormouse559
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:6939
Joined:2010-05-30, 0:06
Real Name:Matthew
Gender:male
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby Dormouse559 » 2017-05-10, 15:17

IpseDixit wrote:I need help with this sentence:

"It's only since the rise of scientific thought that anybody much has been inclined even to question such a statement, much less disbelieve it."

I'm not sure I get the meaning of it, in particular I'm not sure how this "much... much..." thing works.
Well, I guess I'll start with the "much"es. They belong to two separate constructions. "Anybody much" is a phrase meaning "many people". Parallel phrases are "anything much" (many things), "nobody much" (not many people) and "nothing much" (not many things). The second "much" is part of "much less", a conjunction that means the following phrase is more extreme or unlikely than the preceding phrase, which is itself implied to be unlikely. For instance, imagine you're afraid of heights and someone asks you to go skydiving. You could say, "I can't jump off a diving board, much less an airplane."

I've rephrased the sentence below. Hopefully, the meaning's a bit clearer.
Before there was scientific thought, not many people were likely to question such a statement, and even fewer people were likely to disbelieve it. Now that there is scientific thought, more people are likely to do these things.

IpseDixit wrote:Also, what does "make joking play for me" mean?
"Play for me in a joking manner"? It sounds stilted. Do you have a context sentence?
Last edited by Dormouse559 on 2017-05-10, 15:40, edited 1 time in total.
N'hésite pas à corriger mes erreurs.

IpseDixit

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby IpseDixit » 2017-05-10, 15:39

Thanks. I thought it was some kind of construction akin to "the more... the more...", especially because I've never seen "anybody much" before.

"Play for me in a joking manner"? It sounds stilted. Do you have a context sentence?


"She wasn't considerate, Aunt Ehthel, I mean. Hogged the bathroom - we still had a private bathroom in that flat. And she kept, oh, making a sort of joking play for me. Half joking. Coming into my bedroom in her topless pajamas, and so on. She was only about thirty. It got me kind of uptight. I didn't have a girl yet and... you know. Adolescents. It's easy to get a kid worked up. I resented it. I mean, she was my aunt."

User avatar
Dormouse559
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:6939
Joined:2010-05-30, 0:06
Real Name:Matthew
Gender:male
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby Dormouse559 » 2017-05-10, 15:54

Hmm, okay. I haven't encountered that phrasing before, so I'm not totally sure, but I think it's a variation on "to make a play for", which can mean "to flirt with, to hit on". So the sentence might be, "And she kept, oh, sort of jokingly flirting with me."
N'hésite pas à corriger mes erreurs.

User avatar
linguoboy
Posts:25540
Joined:2009-08-25, 15:11
Real Name:Da
Location:Chicago
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby linguoboy » 2017-05-10, 16:30

Dormouse559 wrote:Hmm, okay. I haven't encountered that phrasing before, so I'm not totally sure, but I think it's a variation on "to make a play for", which can mean "to flirt with, to hit on". So the sentence might be, "And she kept, oh, sort of jokingly flirting with me."

That's exactly how I read it. "Make a play for" means "hit on" and "play" can be modified normally (e.g. "joking", "half-hearted", "serious"). I've also seen it used metaphorically, e.g. in a business context where one company is trying to buy another.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

IpseDixit

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby IpseDixit » 2017-05-11, 9:57

Can "catch hold" be intransitive? Like for example "he managed to catch hold".

User avatar
linguoboy
Posts:25540
Joined:2009-08-25, 15:11
Real Name:Da
Location:Chicago
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby linguoboy » 2017-05-11, 12:48

Maybe in very specific circumstances. By itself it sounds odd.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

IpseDixit

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby IpseDixit » 2017-09-07, 12:57

I've never been sure whether I should use "as" with the word "pronounce".

E.g:

Acqua is pronounced ['ak:wa]

or

Acqua is pronounced as ['ak:wa]?

Also, which one is better:

I pronounce acqua ['ak:wa]

or

I pronounce acqua as ['ak:wa]?

User avatar
linguoboy
Posts:25540
Joined:2009-08-25, 15:11
Real Name:Da
Location:Chicago
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby linguoboy » 2017-09-07, 14:32

IpseDixit wrote:I've never been sure whether I should use "as" with the word "pronounce".

Understandable, because there's variation here.

IpseDixit wrote:Acqua is pronounced ['ak:wa]

or

Acqua is pronounced as ['ak:wa]?

The former is unquestionably better.

IpseDixit wrote:I pronounce acqua ['ak:wa]

or

I pronounce acqua as ['ak:wa]?

Here is where the variation comes in. I think it's because in speech, where the two terms aren't set off with punctuation, it helps to have a verbal marker. A pronounced pause works as well here.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

IpseDixit

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby IpseDixit » 2017-09-15, 10:30

What does "for another" mean in this sentence?

<<Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather, for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban [...]>>

User avatar
Dormouse559
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:6939
Joined:2010-05-30, 0:06
Real Name:Matthew
Gender:male
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby Dormouse559 » 2017-09-15, 15:09

Hmm, what's the sentence before that? "Another" generally needs to follow something else, like an antecedent or "one", to work properly.
N'hésite pas à corriger mes erreurs.

IpseDixit

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby IpseDixit » 2017-09-17, 15:10

Dormouse559 wrote:Hmm, what's the sentence before that? "Another" generally needs to follow something else, like an antecedent or "one", to work properly.


Right, it does seem to be connected to the previous sentence, but I still can't quite understand the meaning:

<<For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather, for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban [...]>>

User avatar
Dormouse559
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:6939
Joined:2010-05-30, 0:06
Real Name:Matthew
Gender:male
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby Dormouse559 » 2017-09-17, 18:41

Thank you, that clears things up. Rowling is using a "for one thing … for another" construction. It's used to list reasons for a previously stated conclusion – usually two reasons, but there are ways of adding to that. I'll bet the sentence before your quote contains that conclusion, probably Harry and co.'s impression that Quirrell is a bit off.
N'hésite pas à corriger mes erreurs.

IpseDixit

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby IpseDixit » 2017-11-30, 10:02

I need help finding a word in English (if it exists). In Italian, we make a semantic distinction between errore di battitura which is when you unintentionally press the wrong key on the keyboard, thus creating a misspelled word and svista which is when you type the wrong grammatical form of a word; I know you might say the latter is simply an error, but in Italian svista conveys more than that: it implies that you know full well what the right grammatical form was supposed to be, but for some reason (because you were absent-minded or something else) you picked the wrong one.

So, AFAIK the first concept is called "typo" in English, but what about the other one?

User avatar
Osias
Posts:9754
Joined:2007-09-09, 17:38
Real Name:Osias Junior
Gender:male
Location:Vitória
Country:BRBrazil (Brasil)
Contact:

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby Osias » 2017-11-30, 14:10

"misspelling"?
2017 est l'année du (fr) et de l'(de) pour moi. Parle avec moi en eux, s'il te plait.

IpseDixit

Re: IpseDixit - English

Postby IpseDixit » 2017-11-30, 14:43

Osias wrote:"misspelling"?


Nope. That's more akin to "typo".


Return to “English”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests