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Blossom
Joined: 30 May 2005 Posts: 291 Location: Beijing China
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:21 pm Post subject: Want (Help please) |
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I came across these words in a recipe.
� Every 2 minutes, you *want* to toss the peppers.
� Add the wine. Continue to cook, covered, an additional 5 minutes. *You want the peppers are very tender* and caramelized.
� You *want* to pulsate food processor 4 times.
� *You do not want to over processes.*
I do not understand the use of want here. What is the writer trying to say? Is this bad English, or is it colloquial?
What does *over processes* mean? |
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Blossom
Joined: 30 May 2005 Posts: 291 Location: Beijing China
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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Here is another problem I have found in a web page on sandwich recipes
This sandwich is like none you will ever taste.
What does this mean? |
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asterix
Joined: 26 Jan 2003 Posts: 1654
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:33 am Post subject: |
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� Every 2 minutes you should toss the peppers.
� Add the wine. Continue to cook, covered, an additional 5 minutes, until the peppers are very tender and caramelized.
� You should pulsate food processor 4 times.
� You should not over process.
To over process = to carry out a process for too long |
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asterix
Joined: 26 Jan 2003 Posts: 1654
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:35 am Post subject: |
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I suppose it means it is the best you will ever taste. |
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Blossom
Joined: 30 May 2005 Posts: 291 Location: Beijing China
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks.
But such a strange use of the word *want*
I came across another use of *want* recently when my teacher said, "Do you want to help me carry the books?" I said "No." But apparently he did not mean "Do you want to!" He meant, "Carry my books. Thats an order." |
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iitimone7
Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 400 Location: Indiana, USA
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:05 pm Post subject: want |
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correct, blossom. want can be a very complicated word. iitimone7 |
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Smoothie
Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Shenzhen, China
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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The use of the word 'want' in a recipe is telling you what you want to do if you want to follow the directions. It is telling you what to do. If you still have trouble understanding it, think of it as 'you should do' instead of 'you will want to'.
Concerning the example of people asking by saying, "Do you want to...?" It is a good example of a polite form of a question.
I'm an American living in China; when I was learning some questions in Chinese, it was hard for me to accept them right away because they seemed rude. I know this is just a cultural difference and now I'm seeing the other side of the coin. Our polite forms can be confusing for non-native speakers.
We don't want to seem too demanding, nevermind if we are!  |
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iitimone7
Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 400 Location: Indiana, USA
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 1:13 pm Post subject: want...seem |
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thanks for the perspective, smoothie!!
iitimone7 |
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tri
Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 53
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Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 3:25 am Post subject: |
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that's right. *want* might seem a little confusing.
'You want to'..or 'You might wanna' both mean something like 'you should' or 'it's best if you...' |
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