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Admin, rehab, detox...
Apart from being shortened versions of other words, these three have something else in common. The word stress (the primary stress, to be precise) is on their first syllable, which is not where it was in the original word.
administrator - admin
In rehabilitation and detoxification, the primary stress is on the part of the word that is missing when they're shortened. It's on the second last syllable.
Can you think of any more words whose stress moves when they're shortened? Those who find this task too easy can write a whole comment/short story using multiple words like this :)
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Waiting for "was"
One thing I noticed as a learner who was taught several languages at school, is how we often end up waiting for words that would enable us to say a lot more almost instantly, just because they're part of some supposedly difficult grammar package. The past tense and the super essential verb "to be" are a good example of what I mean. Saying "I was" or "it was" is not exactly difficult, at least not in the languages I know, but it's very empowering because they're among the most frequently used words. "I went to" is also handy. The combination of "I went to" and "it was" allows you to give a brief description of so many different events. Suddenly, you can talk about the past. Some people might say "but you can't teach 'I went to' without 'I didn't go' or 'did you go?' You need to teach the whole past simple together and explain that 'to go' it's an irregular verb..." Do you really? Doesn't the fact that it's irregular (and not only in English) justify teaching it separately because the learner will have to memorise it sooner or later anyway?
If it's down to you, at what stage of language learning do you start learning the past tense? Do you prefer learning/acquiring it little by little in order of usefulness or learning all the rules and lots of verbs at once?
Edit: By "learning all the rules" I meant all rules that apply to a given tense rather than learning all tenses at once.
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Qualcuno se lo ricorderà - perché "se"?
Mi dispiace ma non c'è un contesto. Questa frase viene dall'app con il gufo verde (menzionare il nome dell'app innesca i filtri qui su italki). Sono abituata a vedere questo verbo con "si".
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Bigly and smally: derivation failed
In linguistics, derivation is forming new words from existing words. Take the word "friend", add -ly and you get "friendly". You can add un- and you get the verb "unfriend". You can unfriend someone on social networks. Or you can add both un- and -ly and you get "unfriendly". Words are like building blocks you can play with.
A common way to form an adverb using an adjective is by adding -ly.
perfect - perfectly
calm - calmly
slow - slowly
Different languages have different ways to do this but they're often consistent (you can form lots of words the same way). And then there are words that say "no, you can't do this". You can't form "bigly"*, even though there's "greatly". You can't form "smally", even though there's "slightly" or "negligibly". I noticed that in my native language, I can't do this, either, with "big" or "small". Can you do this in your native language?
*You will actually find "bigly" in some dictionaries but it's considered informal and humorous. Some dictionaries will have "smally" listed as obsolete (outdated). My autocorrect doesn't recognise "smally" but recognises "bigly".
Can you think of any more adjectives that will not turn into adverbs easily? You can give examples in English or any other language.
Bonus question for English learners:
Can you think of any other way to form adverbs in English? Can you think of any adjectives that are already adverbs? Example: fast (his car is fast, he drives fast).
A link to the Cambridge Dictionary's guide to forming adverbs for those who want to learn more (don't look if you want to come up with your own answers):
<a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/adverbs-forms" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/adverbs-forms</a>
Edit: I only found out about a certain politician using the word "bigly" after I wrote this post. It's a funny coincidence but let's not make this a discussion about politics. Thanks :)
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What did your target language casually throw your way?
Today I encountered this German sentence:
<em>Ich denke, dass die Oper hätte eröffnet werden können, wenn auf der Baustelle nicht so oft gestreikt worden wäre.</em>
There is a lot going on in that sentence, grammatically. It made me ask myself "how much do I want this?"
Do you recall a time when you came across something in your target language and stared at it for a while, thinking "seriously?"
Did you accept the challenge? Did it turn out easier, harder or just as hard as you expected it to be?
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Do you think the IPA is a necessary tool for English learners?
And no, I don't mean India Pale Ale, although some might need that more than anything else :)
I'm asking about the International Phonetic Alphabet and its symbols: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet</a>
With online dictionaries being available to everyone who has internet connection, the easiest way to check how a word is pronounced seems to be by using a speaker button next to the word. Often, you can play the British and American pronunciation of the same word. I'd like to know if learners still pay attention to the IPA symbols and teachers encourage them to learn them these days.
What's your view on this subject?
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"A quarter past..." is this common in America?
I have been seeing this a lot while going through different online resources and wasn't sure what to make of it, until La Liseuse (the user, not the painting) explained to me that according to some dictionaries, this was the American way of saying "quarter past" as in "quarter past six", for example (the British version has no article). I just want to check: do Americans really say this?
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Träume von Schule und Prüfungen
Ein Kommentar in meiner Diskussion über Träume hat mich zum Nachdenken gebracht. Es ist sehr häufig, einen wiederkehrenden Traum von einer Schulprüfung zu träumen, insbesondere von der Abitur. So einen Traum habe ich aber nie gehabt. Meint das, dass ich am Tag der Abiturprüfung nicht nervös war? Gar nicht, es war kein Spaziergang. Zugleich gibt es einige kleine Details, an die ich mich erinnere, die nicht auf unerträglichen Stress hinweisen.
Im Frühstadium der Vorbereitung schickte ich einem Freund eine SMS:
"Lernst du?"
"Nein."
"Ich auch nicht."
"Wir sind erbärmlich. Man kann sich nicht darauf verlassen, dass wir allein lernen, oder?"
"Das stimmt. Möchtest du rüber kommen und zusammen lernen?"
"Gute Idee."
Wir saßen in meinem Zimmer. Fünf Minuten später sagte ich:
"In der Nähe hat ein neues mexikanisches Restaurant eröffnet."
...
Kurz danach waren wir in seinem Auto, auf unserem Weg zum Restaurant.
Als der Tag der Abiturprüfung näherrückte, wurde ich ein bisschen verantwortungsbewusster. Ich verbrachte einige Tage mit einer Freundin, nachdem ich zu dem Schluss gekommen war, dass ihr Ansatz anders als mein (das heißt "besser") war. Die einzigen Pausen, die wir machten, waren zu essen und Dawson's Creek zu sehen. Dawson's Creek sehen war notwendig. Es gab keinen anderen Weg. Es kam praktisch, weil ich das schreckliche Thema "Jugend und Umwelt" in dem deutschen Teil der Prüfung erhielt.
Ich bestand die Prüfung ohne emotionalen Schaden (soweit ich weiß).
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Aspettare: to wait vs to expect
È possibile capire la differenza tra "wait" e "expect" in italiano? Ci sarebbe alcuna differenza tra queste frasi?
She waits for him to call her.
She expects him to call her.
Don't wait for me to come back
Don't expect me to come back.
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That was just a dream, just a dream
An unusual thing happened to me today. I fell asleep during the day and had a dream that gradually became quite disturbing. I was thinking "what do I do?" And then, all of a sudden, it hit me. "It's only a dream. I could wake up." So I did.
I had read about it but this was the first time I managed to do it. I've been able to think and solve problems in my dreams for years. I've also been able to control them to some extent but I haven't been deliberately training myself to do this.
Have you ever experienced a lucid dream?
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream</a>
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