Search found 3031 matches

by fluffyhamster
Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:42 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: This new look is terrible
Replies: 0
Views: 105531

This new look is terrible

May I respectfully suggest that the old look of these Teacher Discussion forums (which is still used for the Job Discussion forums part of the cafe) be reinstated? That is, what are the reasons for the change?
by fluffyhamster
Wed May 09, 2018 7:51 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: Any accent experts on here?
Replies: 3
Views: 39345

You're welcome, and no problemo, Georgi! Hope to see you around the forums some more. :wink: :D
by fluffyhamster
Mon May 07, 2018 7:22 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: Any accent experts on here?
Replies: 3
Views: 39345

Welcome to the forums! I think the link is fine (how else are we to hear the accent), even it it seems ultimately a rather trivial question (students are good at those sometimes LOL). Might've been better on the Pronunciation forum but the AL one's higher up and prolly still the more frequented, and...
by fluffyhamster
Mon Nov 13, 2017 4:06 pm
Forum: Secondary School Education
Topic: Teaching unmotivated students
Replies: 61
Views: 556571

... an address from Winston Churchill to parliament, and the story of the tower of Babel in Ogden's Basic English. Yours is a fascinating post and example to many, I'm sure. I, my self, have no knowledge of those moments quoted above. Please enlighten me. I know this reply is coming a decade late b...
by fluffyhamster
Fri Nov 18, 2016 1:43 am
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: Should we liven this up a bit?
Replies: 2
Views: 36029

Always nice to hear what people have been getting up to, but let's face it, these forums have likely had their heyday. Use it (help keep things alive by contributing reasonably regularly) or lose it, I guess. Even the Job Discussion forums have become a shadow of their former self, and now just seem...
by fluffyhamster
Sat Aug 20, 2016 4:58 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic:
Replies: 3
Views: 43598

Sent you a PM. :wink:
by fluffyhamster
Tue Aug 16, 2016 9:18 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic:
Replies: 3
Views: 43598

six-figure (note the hyphen) is given in dictionaries as an adjective used only before a noun e.g. a six-figure salary (the adjectival nature of the unit there is evident in basic substitutions such as decent or handsome but not e.g. * handsomely ). In your first example meanwhile the yes, noun (we...
by fluffyhamster
Sat May 28, 2016 12:11 am
Forum: Adult Education
Topic: Tag questions Grammar
Replies: 1
Views: 25477

Most grammars deal primarily with standard forms e.g. the COBUILD Grammar in section 10.111 says "Note that the negative tag with 'I' is 'aren't I', when 'am' is the auxiliary or main verb in the main clause. I'm controlling it, aren't I? " (to which I'd add, if the tag forms are uncontracted then t...
by fluffyhamster
Sun Oct 18, 2015 12:07 am
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: Passive verb list?
Replies: 1
Views: 26046

You can find reasonably representative starter lists in decent grammars (such as the COBUILD English Grammar, section 10.18 etc), and more comprehensive ones especially by searching the CD-ROMs that are nowadays sold along with print editions of advanced learner dictionaries (for example, from the '...
by fluffyhamster
Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:56 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: Derivation and Inflection
Replies: 4
Views: 43747

(derivation usually involves a change in grammatical class not in meaning) Eh? You were postulating that without a change in class (even given the clear addition of affixes) derivation could not be involved, and said nothing (at least not explicitly) about changes in meaning (or the supposed lack t...
by fluffyhamster
Wed Sep 02, 2015 2:13 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: Derivation and Inflection
Replies: 4
Views: 43747

Where did you get the idea that derivation necessarily had to involve a change in grammatical class? (Though it is easy enough to give examples that do show such changes, e.g. legal [adj] > legality [n]). Just because you've found (cherry-picked? LOL) some examples that don't show a change in class ...
by fluffyhamster
Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:57 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: Brian Browser's book-filled trousers
Replies: 105
Views: 1390198

I bought the Ritchie book and am about halfway through it. Some thoughts (sort of half a review) here:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic ... 31#1216531
by fluffyhamster
Tue Jul 07, 2015 4:54 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: Gapping vs. Ellipsis
Replies: 5
Views: 58707

I sent you the PM as a courtesy, as it had been several days since you posted your question and you might've stopped checking regularly for replies. If you want to reply to a PM, simply click the 'Reply' button within that PM (and doing so opens up a new PM back to the original sender, and doesn't a...
by fluffyhamster
Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:15 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: Gapping vs. Ellipsis
Replies: 5
Views: 58707

"Bonus": One example that I found very unconvincing was this from Trask's Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar's entry on gapping: It is possible to have more than one gap in a single sentence: Rod gave the museum a T-shirt and Elton e e a pair of glasses . Here the two gaps represent gave and the ...
by fluffyhamster
Sun Jul 05, 2015 8:57 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: Gapping vs. Ellipsis
Replies: 5
Views: 58707

The main area of overlap between the notions appears to be during medial ellipsis (less common than initial or final ellipsis), where there is an absence of a repeated verb in clauses that have been conjoined i.e. a 'gap' appears in the shortened clause. That is, this "overlapping-with-ellipsis" typ...