Search results for 'tag:Accents tag:Apostrophes' matching tags 'Accents' and 'Apostrophes'

My official comments on the new EF

Kooyeen — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:39:48 GMT

Hi,
here are my comments.

Youtube videos
Good! That's a cool feature, embedded videos. The only problem is that you can also watch other videos in the same embedded player, not only the one the poster intended to show, because it shows (and plays) related videos at the end. So I just wanted to say that if I post something like "SoCal girl - Accent" to show Southern Cali's accent, I am not responsible for whatever shows as related videos, which might well be something like "SoCal girls going wild" or "Naughty hot Socal girls".

Original poster who started a thread
Someone else already pointed this out in another thread. When you read the list of threads, you can see "last post by..." but you don't know who started the thread unless you click on it and take a look inside. Is it possible to do something for this? I think it's useful info...

Avatar, PMs, etc.
Good! Now everyone has a lot of features available, even though I realize that will probably mean more work for admins if some problems occurs (especially because of PMs for everyone)

Search function
Good! Finally! Thank God! The old one really sucked... It wasn't possible to search someone's posts for a word, for example. Now I can search my own posts or anyone else's. Really, lot of features. But there's still a problem, like in the old one. In the old EF, if I tried to search for something that contained an apostrophe, like "I'm" or "you're", it got rid of the apostrophe and searched for "Im" or "youre". So it was no possible to search for those, for example.
Now... it's ok if you search someone's posts, but still not ok if you search the whole forum. I found a workaround: if you have to search for, say "I'd", you do an advanced search and you put an asterisk in the author field. So you have to search *'s posts for "I'd" in order to do a global search, otherwise you'll get a search for "Id" (no apostrophe).
Lemme know about this...

Community
This forum now looks like a real community of learners, not just simple a forum.I really like this, that's what learners need, a good community where they can learn, practice and have fun at the same time.The chat is still connected to TCP, so I still don't understand TCP's purpose, sorry... You could make that chat more powerful and part of EF... LOL, it doesn't matter, forget it
Anyway, the only thing that doesn't make EF a real community, in my opinion, is the fact that anonymous users are still allowed to post in discussions sections like "topic of the moment" or "Word games", etc, for example. Anons have the right to ask questions and get help (grammar and pronunciation sections, for example), but I don't know why the should be allowed to post everywhere... It kind of bothers me to still see those anons in the middle of a well developed community.

Minor points, not important
Blue backgrounds are very nice, maybe a lighter shade of blue might look better and have a better contrast with the text. Maybe I noticed this because I think the old EF was a little bit lighter. And the site is sooo slow... I know it's because of indexing. I hope it'll be fast in the end!

That's all. Bye.

Re: cannot vs can not + apostrophe vs acute accent

Mister Micawber — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 14:05:17 GMT

1-- Can not is a less common form of cannot.

2-- accents (acute and grave) are diacritical marks used over certain letters in foreign words or words of foreign origin, as in dÃ©jÃ vu, clichÃ© and mÃ©nage Ã trois.

cannot vs can not + apostrophe vs acute accent

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 13:15:58 GMT

Hey all

I'm just starting up as an Instructional Designer and I've just run into two problems.

1. What's the difference between "cannot" and "can not"? Is it simply that one of them is bad English? Or is it american vs imperial?
2. In English, apostrophe (') is used as an aid for possessive constructs and shorts with omitted letters, but what about acute accent (Â´)? In what situations is it being used?

I'd appreciate a rather quick answer, although you will not loose any money or your neck if you're late.

Andreas

Re: Use of the apostrophe in front of a shortened number

Mister Micawber — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:45:07 GMT

The slant of the apostrophe is irrelevant; it is basically vertical, but takes slightly different angles in different fonts.

Just don't confuse it with an accent grave (slanting down from left to right) or accent acute (slanting up from L to R)-- these are used in French and other foreign languages.

Re: A Narrative about Change

Nick147 — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 17:30:38 GMT

Hi,

This is an interesting story! I have suggested some amendments to make it read better. My changes are shown in bold. One thing you should be careful about is the use of capitals. Usually only proper names are written with a capital letter, though words can be capitalised for literary effect. I have taken out all of the capitals in your draft that seem to be unnecessary. Also, be careful when using apostrophes. I have corrected these in your draft. The word "gerbils" does not need an apostrophe unless you are talking about something that belongs to a gerbil - for example, "the gerbil's nose", or "the gerbils' noses" if you are taliking about more than one gerbil.

I hope you find this helpful,

Revised Draft:

Today was a special day in my life. I leapt out of bed at 6:00 am, had a shower, dressed, took my passport and airline ticket and drove to the airport. I was leaving my family home for 3 months and the feeling of the heebie - jeebies started to dominate the sense of excitement I had felt before reaching the Airport. I was worried about what I was leaving behind, but felt a sense of adventure. I was changing my life for the better instead of living in the attic of my familyâs home, spending my time on the computer and living off chips and coke. I was questioning myself âWHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR MISERABLE, LONELY LIFE?â and I was taking action to change things.

I was travelling to China. A City called âä¸æ»ç¥å¥åå¸â which in English means âMysterious City of the Undeadâ. It was a Mystic City said to have been abandoned 20 yrs ago because of haunting, magical and unaccountable acts carried out by supernatural beings.

When I reached the outskirts of the City I felt an abnormal presence encompass me. I was on a quest to find enlightenment on my Path to change and I wouldnât stop for anything that got in my way.

I entered the city looking around thoughtfully. The city was like one of those olden day movies with everything black and white. I turned my head to the left and saw a corner shop. I entered the shop and saw many ominous symbols on the walls. While I was gazing at the symbols an old, wise-looking man stood up from behind the counter. He saw that I was not from the area and spoke in English to me. He said âWhat are you doing here in the city? Donât you know what has happened here you insolent fool?â.

I answered hesitantly and slowly because of the sudden appearance of this man. I said âI have heard everything about this city but I want to seek a new beginning in my lifeâ. The Old man told me âAhh, so you are beginning to seekâ¦ I have the correct tool you need to begin.â

In my head I was confused as to what this old man was on about. I thought he was crazy and his Yoda type accent from Star Wars added to my dilemma.

Then I saw him bend down under the counter and he brought forward a box covered in dust and mould. He slowly opened the box and immediately a light filled the room exactly like when the sun is slowly rising in the morning. My eyes where a bit blurry but once this had gone away I saw three little gerbils standing on the counter.

I was fascinated and told[asked ?] the old man âThese are going to help me[?]â. He replied âThey do helpâ¦ now take the gerbils. Beware, but they have hidden power for good, also â¦â¦â¦â

Before he could finish his sentence a slight breeze had entered the room and hit the Old man. He disappeared into thin air like when you blow a dandelion flower and all its white fluffy hair disappears.

I was abit agitated and hesitated to take the grebils back home with me. But I said to myself âI have nothing to loose except a new beginning to my lifeâ.

I took the little gerbils, packed them in my bag and took the first flight back to my hometown. As I reached my house I saw that it had changed. It had been renovated and there was a new car outside. I asked my parents âWho is that car for?â My mum answered âIt is yours son, lots of good things have been happening in your absenceâ.

I said to myself âOhhhh these gerbils are workingâ.. I was ecstatic and wanted to see what else these gerbils could do.

So I took it upon myself to go to the mall with my new car. I suddenly felt in the midst of societyâ¦ While I was parking a really beautiful woman started to talk to me. I was intoxicated with her beauty and felt dazed. To everything she said I replied âYesâ. She asked me out and I replied âYes I would like toâ. Tomorrow she suggested!!

I bought myself a set of new clothes, shoes, perfume and a watch - this was all with my mum's new found fountain of money!!

I went back home and slept, waiting for the next day to dawn. Once I woke up the next morning all I could hear was a huge truck parking outside our House. It said âDepo Departmentâ on it. Everything I had learnt to accept had disappeared. My car, watch, new clothes, everything. I had even lost the date with the dazzling woman I met at the mall.

I wondered to myself âWHY WHY is this happening to me?â. I got the stupid gerbils and looked underneath them. My answer was revealed. They were "made in Chinaâ.

I have been told and had the experience myself that âEverything made in China doesnât lastâ.

In my last plea for help I said âPlease God get me out of this mess!â.

Then out of nowhere my mum came to me and said âWhat do you do when you realize all your dreams come true?â

I answered âYou wake upâ.

I woke up in the attic where I sleep. I was covered in sweat and my heart was pumping like I had run all the way from Africa to my House.

I undertook to take my dream and apply it to the real world.

Re: Questions for non-native speakers of English.

YoungCalifornian — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 20:12:06 GMT

Thank you for your answers. I often wonder how English is perceived by those who don't use it as a first language. Since I've known English all my life, I feel like I've never been able to appreciate the aesthetic qualities of the language. I've tried looking at texts written in English and guessing what spelling or punctuation would look especially odd to someone who is not as familiar with the language (for instance, I thought perhaps the many apostrophes in English words might look as foreign to a Frenchman as the all the accents in French words do to me). Knowing that English is a Germanic language, I also wondered if it sounds as harsh as German (no offense, Germans), and even went so far as to listen to songs mumbled in English so as to get some idea.

This is all very enlightening.

Re: keyboard keys definitions

goldmund — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 13:24:05 GMT

Dear Gniagnia,

The others are:

' apostrophe

` grave accent

& ampersand

^ caret if it is alone, circumflex if it is on a vowel

/ forward slash or solidus

\ back slash or reverse solidus

[ left square bracket

{ left curly bracket

( left parenthesis

You may open Character Map and click on the characters. It will tell you what they are.

Kind regards,

Goldmund

Re: Affect, effect

Guest — Thu, 20 May 2004 15:48:16 GMT

Hi folks,

I really love this site, it reminds me of the apostrophe protection society blog. Very interesting!

Anyway, I believe there is a very simple method to differentiate between effect and affect.

When used as nouns, the difference is pretty obvious.
An effect is a result of an action, while an affect is a feeling or emotion.

When used as verbs:
Effect is an active verb: 'The government effected swift decreases in the unemployment level.'
Affect is a passive verb: 'The unemployment level was positively affected by new government policies.'

If you have any trouble figuring out the difference between the active and passive tense, the trick is the word by. Usually, if there is a clause at the end of a sentence starting with by, the verb is passive. In the first sentence, the subject (government) is the actor. In other words the subject carried out an action. In the second sentence, the subject (unemployment level) is acted upon by a different entity.

However, affect can also be used in an active sense, but the context is different, âMike affected an English accent to disguise his Irish rootsâ.

This of course is only my humble opinion, put together in the days before Google. So, Iâd like to hear any comments on my theory, good or bad. If any of my sweeping grammatical statements are incorrect, Iâll have to shift the blame onto my English teacher of yore.

Cheerio!

Re: Tilde

Woodward — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 20:18:04 GMT

Hi Sonia,

Maybe you are referring to the apostrophe such as in I'm or I'll. Here it can mean that a contraction was made. I am = I'm. It also has some other meanings which appear in another thread.
Apostrophes

Could you give us an example?

The Tilde is the mark (~ or sometimes Â´ ) that is normally put over a letter in a Spanish word to show where to put an accent or to create the Spanish letter Ã±. I thought this Spanish word 'tilde' was only used in their language but I discovered that it exists in English too. In English it refers to when they use it in Spanish words.