Search results for 'tag:Plurals tag:Negatives' matching tags 'Plurals' and 'Negatives'

craving respect

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:07:28 GMT

Regarding language use, whose respect do you crave?

For example, a few weeks ago, I wrote the word "fora", as the plural for "forum", and a couple of native-speaking members here took me to task over it, and a couple more even made fun of me for using it. They said I should use "forums". Well, I'm still using "fora", so I guess I'm not so interested in gaining the respect, linguistically and socially, of said members. But, did I make the right choice? Should I have taken on the usage of said members? Should I have tried to to gain their respect?

And should someone who feels comfortable using a double-negative, or is happy using "if I have chance" (over "if I have the/a chance") in the spoken form - to take just two examples - give up their way of speaking, of using the language, and instead try to gain the respect of those who prescribe against such forms? Should someone who never uses "ain't", as another example, suddenly begin using it when coming into contact with those who do use it?

So, regarding language use, do you try or wish to gain the respect of a certain sector of society? If so, which sector and why?

Which sense for the respective words

Eagerlearner — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:30:01 GMT

Hello, I am doing Natural Language Processing which is a research to make computer understand human language. I need help from English expert here to choose the right sense of a word which is called Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD). For the question

What are the countries that have a population of more than 25 million

As the closed class word is not necessary for the WSD process. So I filter out to only the words

countries
population

Here is the senses for the both words respectively

5 senses of country

Sense 1
{08168978} state, nation, country, land, commonwealth, res publica, body politic -- (a politically organized body of people under a single government; "the state has elected a new president"; "African nations"; "students who had come to the nation's capitol"; "the country's largest manufacturer"; "an industrialized land")
       => {08359949} political unit, political entity -- (a unit with political responsibilities)

Sense 2
{08544813} country, state, land -- (the territory occupied by a nation; "he returned to the land of his birth"; "he visited several European countries")
       => {08491826} administrative district, administrative division, territorial division -- (a district defined for administrative purposes)

Sense 3
{08166552} nation, land, country -- (the people who live in a nation or country; "a statement that sums up the nation's mood"; "the news was announced to the nation"; "the whole country worshipped him")
       => {07942152} people -- ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively; "old people"; "there were at least 200 people in the audience")

Sense 4
{08644722} country, rural area -- (an area outside of cities and towns; "his poetry celebrated the slower pace of life in the country")
       => {08574314} geographical area, geographic area, geographical region, geographic region -- (a demarcated area of the Earth)

Sense 5
{08497294} area, country -- (a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography); "it was a mountainous area"; "Bible country")
       => {08630985} region -- (a large indefinite location on the surface of the Earth; "penguins inhabit the polar regions")

5 senses of population

Sense 1
{08179879} population -- (the people who inhabit a territory or state; "the population seemed to be well fed and clothed")
       => {07942152} people -- ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively; "old people"; "there were at least 200 people in the audience")

Sense 2
{08178741} population -- (a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting a given area; "they hired hunters to keep down the deer population")
       => {00031264} group, grouping -- (any number of entities (members) considered as a unit)

Sense 3
{06026276} population, universe -- ((statistics) the entire aggregation of items from which samples can be drawn; "it is an estimate of the mean of the population")
       => {07951464} collection, aggregation, accumulation, assemblage -- (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Sense 4
{13779804} population -- (the number of inhabitants (either the total number or the number of a particular race or class) in a given place (country or city etc.); "people come and go, but the population of this town has remained approximately constant for the past decade"; "the African-American population of Salt Lake City has been increasing")
       => {13728499} integer, whole number -- (any of the natural numbers (positive or negative) or zero; "an integer is a number that is not a fraction")

Sense 5
{01257969} population -- (the act of populating (causing to live in a place); "he deplored the population of colonies with convicted criminals")
       => {01252280} colonization, colonisation, settlement -- (the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies; "the British colonization of America")

The 8 digit number shows the Sense ID, the arrow => means hypernym of (broader term, "is a").
Do you have general opinion about the sense meaning that I gave ? The senses of meaning seem very close to me. So I am finding it hard to choose the right sense for that 2 words. Could you point that out for me ? Thanks.

Re: few, a few, a couple of -- difference?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:09:07 GMT

Thank you, Mr. M. What is the difference? Why a person might envision a polarity, whereas the others might not. Both seem to be applying the chosen phrases before a plural noun.

I have been busy for a few days. I have eaten a few apples. -- from a positive polarity view point?

I have been busy for few days. I have eaten few apples. -- from a negative polarity view point

Re: GG's 4-letter noun

Grammar Geek — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:55:17 GMT

It is countable, but in the four-letter form it's singular. (And it takes an S to be plural - it's regular that way.)

The word itself is neutral in meaning, having neither happy nor sad, positive nor negative emotions.

Re: Problem with There's, there aren't + some/any

Anonymous — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:35:21 GMT

I come across this problem too while teaching that structure in the classroom for biginners. But at the end I think that the rule is as follows: any is used for negative plural , and plural interrogative

while some is used for plural affirmative form and it is used in case of uncountables.ok here are some eg.

*are there any curtains in the living room?

*yes, there are some.

*no, there aren't any.

for uncountables: for eg.

* would like some tea? *there is some bread = we cannot say there is a bread. that is why it is used even with uncountables .

By YOUSSEF BEN.

Re: grammar questions

Mister Micawber — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:39:42 GMT

1) Are my sentences correct but with a different meaning? I didn't quite get the nuance between the 2 prepositions. Would you please explain the difference again?

a) "The plays had been / were performed THROUGHOUT the next ten years"-- many times /every year in that period
b) "He had acted / had been acting / acted/ DURING the next ten years" -- no indication of frequency of performance in that period

2) position of adverbs: which ones are correct English? Which ones are spoken and which ones are written?

(a) He PROBABLY wouldN'T have met him. -- informal
(b) He would PROBABLY NOT have met him.-- both

(d) He would PROBABLY have NEVER met him.-- both

e) He would PROBABLY NEVER have met him. -- both

3) negative past form of "I used do it"
a) I used not to do it -- primarily BrE
b) I did not use to do it -- primarily AmE ('didn't used to' also in use i BrE)

7) singular or plural:
a) the datE of birth and death is registered / inscribed-- avoid this one; it just creates a conundrum.
b) the datES of birth and death are registered -- OK

8) vocabulary + tense: Would you please tell me if these expressions are correct?
a) Tom feared / was afraid / was scared that that his body would be incinerated once he WAS dead. -- OK

b) To act out (= perform ?) a play
Othello was first ACTED OUT at the theatre in... -- OK

c) early in his career / when he justed started working = a ses dÃ©buts ? -- I don't speak Green.

d) does the word "play-performer" exist?-- If it does it should be eschewed. Use 'actor'.

grammar questions

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 06:14:21 GMT

Dear teachers,

Would you please help me with the following difficuties?

1) Are my sentences correct but with a different meaning? I didn't quite get the nuance between the 2 prepositions. Would you please explain the difference again?

a) "The plays had been / were (?) performed THROUGOUT / DURING the next ten years"
b) "He had acted / had been acting / acted (?) THROUGHOUT / DURING the next ten years"

2) position of adverbs: which ones are correct English? Which ones are spoken and which ones are written?

(a) He PROBABLY wouldN'T have met him.
(b) He would PROBABLY NOT have met him.

(d) He would PROBABLY have NEVER met him.

e) He would PROBABLY NEVER have met him.

3) negative past form of "I used do it"
a) I used not to do it
b) I did not use to do it

7) singular or plural:
a) the datE of birth and death is registered / inscribed (?)
b) the datES of birth and death are registered

8) vocabulary + tense: Would you please tell me if these expressions are correct?
a) Tom was scared that (?) / feared that his body would be insinerated once he WAS dead.

b) To act out (= perform ?) a play
Othello was first ACTED OUT at the theatre in...

c) early in his career / when he justed started working = a ses dÃ©buts ?

d) does the word "play-performer" exist?

A thousand thanks,
Hela

Re: I need your help,please.

Avangi — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:36:54 GMT

1. "women" - use plural to match "the elderly" & "are more LIKELY"

2. The goals of our program ARE - use plural verb with plural subject

3. MANY benefits - "Much" is for stuff; "many" is for things you can count.

4. there IS a lot of space (missing verb in clause) & IN which he could write (or) WHERE he could write

5. (wrong choice of conjunctions) use "but" instead of "or"

6. in ALMOST every country

7. is EXTREMELY important (use adverb form to modify predicate adjective)

8. positive OR negative (conjunction)

9. While I WAS TAKING a walk (past tense to match "saw") & RAKING (wrong words - "talking" for "taking" and "ranking" for "raking")

10. to care FOR their parents

11. five LAPTOP TESTS ("tests" is a noun - object of the preposition - and is plural because there are five. "Laptop" is an adjective in this case and doesn't have to agree. It could be a noun if used alone, like "Five laptops were found to be defective.")

12. INSECTS (plural to agree with animals) & I think "fossilized" is the better adjective & I'd suggest using two separate sentences: "insects. Fossilized" & a period at the end

13. I think this is okay. It needs a period at the end.

Congratulations on your first post!

I Have some doubts, help me please

Hector9 — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 21:48:14 GMT

I donÂ´t understand the use and the meaning of these casses, iÂ´ll put the explanation of my english book

The use of Some/Any (Yes, very difficult)

Some is used in positive sentences with plurals and uncountable nouns
Examples:
I have some friends
Do you want some food?

Any is used in negative sentences and questions with plurals and uncountable nouns.
Examples:
I donÂ´t have any friends
Do you have any coffee?

I donÂ´t understand nothing about this.

The use of Take

The verb take has lots of meanings. Here are some examples:
Take me to the airport, please.
Take this ticket!
Can i take a message?

I donÂ´t understand the use of Something/Anything and Someone/Anyone, either.

Sorry guys A lot of people explained me these uses, but i donÂ´t understand Perhaps you can explain me

Thank you very much for your time

Re: Can you help me check the grammar for this paragraph? thank you so much .

Grammar Geek — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:53:40 GMT

Hi Nghiatran and welcome to the forums. You seem to have some problems with plurals and articles. You need to be careful about saying something WILL happen, instead of CAN happen.

There are some negative effects in using computer in our life. First of all, using computer in all of important systems, such as military system, banking, health care, so what happen if virus or hackers can attack in to those systems, and make them become unhelpful completely. That can be catastrophe for people on the world. For example, if banking systems are not working, so all of trade deals are canceled or personal information and account will be stolen by hackers or someone. Second, using computer is cause of many health problems. Example, if people work with computer for long time, their eyes, and backs will be tied and hurt.

There are some negative effects in our lives from using computers. First of all, using computer in all of our important systems, such as the military ~~system~~, banking, and health care, leaves us vulnerable to ~~so what happen if~~ viruses or hackers that can attack in to those systems, and make them become ~~unhelpful~~ completely useless. I see this as a risk, not a negative ~~effect~~. That would ~~can~~ be catastrophe for people around on the world. For example, if banking systems are not working, so all of trade deals are canceled or personal information and account information can ~~will~~ be stolen by hackers ~~or someone~~. Second, using computer can be the is cause of many health problems. For example, if people work with computer for a long time, their eyes, and backs ~~will~~ may become tied and sore ~~hurt~~.