Username
jayles
Member Since
August 12, 2010
Total number of comments
748
Total number of votes received
228
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Have diphthongs gone for good?
- April 25, 2014, 4:06pm
@WW by "practical purposes" I meant outside the classroom, like submitting your CV in English or answering business emails.
Have diphthongs gone for good?
- April 23, 2014, 7:30pm
I agree that spelling is not the major issue for non-native speakers; after all, the common end-use writing situations (business emails, reports, and academic essays) are all covered by spell-checkers. On the other hand, business telephone conversations put enormous pressure on clear-enough pronunciation (and listening and everything else too).
Like Russian, English stress is hard to predict (although often last-but-two on longer words). Aural learning the only way to go.
EF= Entertainment First ??
Have diphthongs gone for good?
- April 22, 2014, 9:59pm
"daemon" is often used with this spelling when referring to a piece of software that is permanently running on the server, for instance as a channel to a database. Spelt without the lig here:
http://www.heliohost.org/home/features/databases/postgresql
“it’s the put-er-on-er-er”
- April 20, 2014, 1:22am
Curious how looker(s)-on was overtaken by onlooker(s) toward the end of 19th year-hundred.
Also the difference in meaning between passers-by and by-passers (ie people who take the bypass), and the following:
urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=holder-upper
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/upholder
“it’s the put-er-on-er-er”
- April 19, 2014, 1:13pm
dictionary.reference.com/browse/warmerupper
dictionary.reference.com/browse/cheererupper
“it’s the put-er-on-er-er”
- April 19, 2014, 1:02pm
@WW "putter-onner" , putter-inner, taker-outer, leaver-outer, - all several have hits on google
urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=leader-onner
urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=picker-onner
urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=checker-upper-onner
urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Awayer
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pusher-awayer
“it’s the put-er-on-er-er”
- April 19, 2014, 3:09am
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/washer-upper
www.definition-of.com/bad+breaker-upper
“it’s the put-er-on-er-er”
- April 18, 2014, 10:17pm
books.google.com/books?isbn=0071428933
books.google.com/books?isbn=1419535722
“it’s the put-er-on-er-er”
- April 18, 2014, 10:12pm
Questions
| Five eggs is too many | July 1, 2013 |
| “The plants were withered” Adjective or passive? | August 27, 2013 |
| Which sound “normal” to you? | March 31, 2014 |
| “it’s the put-er-on-er-er” | April 7, 2014 |
“enamored with” and “enamored by”
I do remember the teacher in primary school (England 1950's) forbidding us to use the word 'get' in writing because it was a "horrible" word. Given that kind of indoctrination it is not surprising if some people retain a less-than-empirical outlook on word choices.
BTW in Murphy's grammar book 'gotten' is simply marked as "American", so again it is hardly surprising if people think that is the end of the story. I certainly did for many years.