The English Language

A section to discuss matters not related to Chess in particular.
soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Mon Aug 07, 2017 5:16 pm

Seirawan says:
No matter how clearly defined your static advantage is, ...

How does 'clearly defined' differ from 'obvious'?

MartinCarpenter
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Re: The English Language

Post by MartinCarpenter » Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:05 pm

Language is hard :)

It kind of does mean obvious, but obvious in a very, well, clearly defined way ;) Clearly defined means you can see it and fully understand it quite easily. A really clear cut weak pawn or something.

You can have positions where some player is 'obviously' much better but its really hard to describe precisely why that is so.

Andy Stoker
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Re: The English Language

Post by Andy Stoker » Tue Aug 08, 2017 3:33 pm

"Superior" could imply of a higher rank or status - "Better" implies that it is functionally better. So in the army, a soldier with the rank of Colonel is superior to a Captain - but a particular captain could be the better soldier

soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Mon Aug 14, 2017 2:46 pm

thx.

soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Mon Aug 14, 2017 3:14 pm

In :
In diagram 70, we see the same ideas as those expressed in yjr previous example, but not quite so pronounced.

what does 'not quite so pronounced' mean?

Barry Sandercock
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Re: The English Language

Post by Barry Sandercock » Mon Aug 14, 2017 4:21 pm

It means "not quite so obvious".

soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Tue Aug 15, 2017 8:41 am

What does quite so mean?

MartinCarpenter
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Re: The English Language

Post by MartinCarpenter » Tue Aug 15, 2017 9:10 am

'As' more or less, with a few subtle graduations of meaning. I suspect that its an awfully English phrase.

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Michael Farthing
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Location: Morecambe, Europe

Re: The English Language

Post by Michael Farthing » Tue Aug 15, 2017 11:21 am

Martin explains it as Barry used it above, but it has another distinct usage as in:

Speaker 1: Barry has consistently been helpful in answering Soheil's questions
Speaker 2: Quite so!

where "quite so" means "what was said is exactly correct"

soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:42 pm

What does the dots mean in:

I begin with . . . a discussion of the 19th-century Tlingit funeral, [...]?

MartinCarpenter
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Re: The English Language

Post by MartinCarpenter » Tue Aug 29, 2017 2:41 pm

A dramatic pause. It'd mostly suggest that the thing following them was somehow notably surprising.

Brian Towers
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Re: The English Language

Post by Brian Towers » Tue Aug 29, 2017 7:51 pm

Ellipses (here meaning plural of ellipsis [three dots] rather than plural of ellipse) are used to indicate that something has been missed out.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Fri Sep 01, 2017 6:15 am

What's cremoial property?
Each house was identified with a matrilineage, which also owned a stock of lands and ceremonial property.

MartinCarpenter
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Re: The English Language

Post by MartinCarpenter » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:26 am

Ceremonial not cremoial :)(As per your quoted sentence.).

Something that is used for formal show rather than actual functional use. So a ceremonial sword would be really decorative but (quite possibly) no use for killing people etc.

soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:14 pm

What's the difference between 'others' and 'the rest'?

Some projects are shorter than others.
Some of these methods will work. Others will not.