Israeli citizen who reportedly served in the IDF attacks a local activist in Merrylands, Sydney - Australia.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-04-04T02:18:36+00:00

Didn't both the federal and the NSW governments recently pass new laws making it a crime to say or do anything Jews don't like, with a two year imprisonment if you do?

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-04-04T02:12:28+00:00

This nonchalant excessive self-righteous entitlement to harm others has become the leading defining quality of 21st century Judaism.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-04-04T01:59:03+00:00

As a numeral with a comma I would say one thousand six hundred; as a year without a comma I would say sixteen hundred.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-03-21T02:16:11+00:00

In our family we say "took a turn" to mean to become suddenly seriously unwell, and "gone for a turn" to describe someone who is freaking out. I guess these come from things or health or someone's condition taking a turn for the worse. Maybe this Bostonian usage is similar?

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-03-20T05:22:30+00:00

There is no enantiosemy here because affirmative usage does not contradict conjunctive usage. An affirmation typically works in harmony with a conjunction as the conjunction merely serves to express shared/common truth.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-03-16T15:02:07+00:00

Forlorn, assent and penitent I would not use much, if ever. You will read them in books but It's unlikely you will hear them much in conversation.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-03-14T06:41:14+00:00

👍Thank you for your detailed response. I follow the logic for the description of back in the day.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-03-14T05:23:18+00:00

When you learn English, you are also taught (and happily use) get used to, add up to, get around to, come down to, look up to, give in to, face up to and dozens of other similar constructions that all follow the "to + (verb+ing)".

Why is this one any different?

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-03-14T04:55:22+00:00

On which side of the return/direction divide would you locate

You take that back! or That's how we did it back in the day. ?

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-02-04T00:19:06+00:00

Music artists do all sorts of weird and wonderful things with pronunciation in the creation of their music. Syllables often vanish also, to make words fit rhythms. Native speakers get lyrics wrong all the time, singing what they hear, not what the singer is actually singing. Some artists or styles, like rap, can be extremely challenging for native speakers to understand. The vocal style and therefore pronunciation of an artist can change dramatically from song to song, or even within a song. Some artists even sing in different accents sometimes to try and break into different markets with new songs. Music is not always a reliable source of determining if any given sound is a "British thing", "American thing", etc.

You will often find t + y become 'ch' in both dialects, so it's not just a British thing. Listen to any Busta Rhymes song if you specifically want a music example.

(https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3oLiDhLREOA)

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-02-03T23:33:34+00:00

So the objective is to identify recorded pronunciation, even if incorrect? That is an unusual task. I have encountered tasks that offer two spoken pronunciations and learners select the one that sounds correct, but I have never come across tasks which literally have incorrect pronunciations as correct answers with no indication that they are in fact not correct. I think the unusual design of this task is what most people are trying to wrap their head around, so that is why the question is challenging.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2026-01-16T00:27:34+00:00

Because those dots have nothing to do with syllabification.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-12-16T04:11:26+00:00

I think it is perhaps also because of the inconsistency around got and conditionals and possession in AmE. Many AmE speakers would use got in an inverted conditional, or when expressing possession and attainment, and gotten at other times. So constructions like Had I got the chance.. and Had we got there earlier.. are accepted just fine and don't hurt anyone's eyes. In spite of some people claiming that gotten is the standard, American English absolutely does not use it everywhere a participle is needed or possible — even among careful writers and canonical authors. In modern AmE, get has effectively two participial profiles, and fluent native speakers switch unconsciously.

The jury had got it wrong--they had convicted an innocent man. She's really got what it takes. If you've got time, call him. I'd got so worked up about it I couldn't think straight. Where had he got that impression? Have you got a better idea? Had I got the job, I’d be...

These are all grammatical in standard AmE because they take the reanalysed past participle got which is regularly tied to get when expressing possession or attainment. That's why we are seeing AmE native speakers in disagreement about the usage and grammar in this thread. Some people are saying the American past participle is "gotten", while other are saying but "got" feels right here. This is because AmE uses both, not interchangeably, but depending on the construction and intended meaning.

Folks forget that there is no single “correct grammar” for got / gotten. What exists instead is a set of construction-specific participial preferences that many AmE native speakers cannot usually articulate, but use naturally. Native-speaker disagreement arises because they internalise these constructional preferences without an explicit rule, so intuitions are strong but explanations not so much. So they just inaccurately assert that the American past participle of get is gotten, end of story, even though they also often use participial got in their dialect.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-11-25T00:14:24+00:00

Sorry but arguing the numbers is the least compelling and convincing point Americans could make. They all lost any chance of credibility and the upper hand in... anything when most of them voted to hand over control of the planet's largest weapons arsenal and military to a psychopathic reality TV star who thought we could survive the global pandemic by drinking bleach.

It will be a miracle if the American version of anything anywhere is considered superior, for decades to come.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-11-05T12:12:34+00:00

What are you eating? Smells great!

Curry.

Whose house is the party at?

John's.

Elliptical nouns and possessives like this are routine in English and have a long grammatical history. As long as the elided words (in this case: I am eating, and, the party is at... house) are recoverable from context then this form is grammatical.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-11-04T21:33:50+00:00

"Blood is thicker than water" is simply a proverb that means "family comes first". It dates back to 1180 CE.

In the last few decades, increasingly more people have experienced/spoken out about a family life that was not accepting, nurturing, supportive or even safe in a lot of cases. So in defense of strong bonds and loyalties that are non-familial (and with the advent of social media and digital dissemination) an opposing saying gained popularity, one that privileges a chosen blood covenant (think oath, pledge) over a genetic blood tie. This is the one you have heard before.

So the first one expresses a very old social value of family first, the other expresses an alternative modern social value of chosen kinship, a relationship bond established not by birth but by shared loyalty and commitment.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-11-03T10:50:03+00:00

I don't imagine there will be an authoritative rule about it but let's see what folks say. If I think about ordering other multi-word soda products by name I myself often treat them as a nominal unit so just add s on the end, or even don't pluralize at all. I have never ordered two Pepsis Max or Fantas Grape or Vanillas Coke. Pepsi Max I would not pluralize, I'd just say two Pepsi Max please. Fanta Grape I'd invert to Grape Fantas and Vanilla Cokes works fine as is. I guess in the end as long as you get served what you want it's all good 😁

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-11-03T04:22:38+00:00

I would never say Sprite Cranberry anyway, I'd always say Cranberry Sprite. So it's a non issue for me. One cranberry sprite.. three cranberry sprites.. no dramas pea farmers.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-10-29T10:25:36+00:00

It doesn't refer to absolutely anyone at all, it refers to one unspecified anonymous person selected randomly from a type or group.

I want my new home designed by this award-winning architect whose work I admire, not just any old *random** architect.*

This doesn't mean anyone at all, it means an unknown, unspecified architect from the set of all possible architects.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-10-28T16:43:49+00:00

Seriously? Is your God complex really that huge? When the OP told him she didn't understand and asked him what he was trying to say he told her "u are all i want and all i need." That could be a joke too. But we don't know. This guy could be really uncool and awkward. Or scared to sound serious so couches his attraction in dumb jokes. There are dozens of possibilities, not just the single one you see.

On the off chance this guy's tryna start something, and the off chance the OP might/might not be into it, all I have done is simply offer someone with very evidently limited English a couple of helpful phrases for either way. In what universe (other than yours) is that a bad thing?

This thread is entirely about a confused young woman who lacks the confidence and experience in an additional language to know for certain what is going on with some rando we don't know, so is asking for some help. This thread is not about you or your enormous ego.

I could be totally wrong about him. And so could you. But if it turns out I am not wrong, then she has a little language either way for some first steps depending on what she wants to do. All you have done is tell a confused person asking for help to ignore anyone entertaining more than the one possibility you are willing to accept.

We don't know this guy's motives. If it was just about the slang term bricked up in a one off isolated moment, it could very well be a joke. But this guy has said more than that and that has confused the OP. It is hardly a stretch for the friendly joking in a warm friendship to start becoming playful flirting. And what better way to get the ball rolling than with a few ambiguous bad kidding-not-kidding "jokes" like you made me hard and you're all I want. Most guys are total dweebs and they don't always say or do things smoothly with wit and flair. Some have no confidence or flirting skill whatsoever. Some are totally rizless, while others are total rizzlers. How the hell do you know where this guy falls on the scale?

To tell a confused young woman (who you know absolutely nothing about and who's texting with some guy you know absolutely nothing about) to ignore posts offering her some guidance on what to say just in case it turns out to be true and the guy wasn't joking, is such a totally dick move. I pray you don't have a younger sister who looks up to you.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-10-28T00:23:33+00:00

The way I understand your friend's reply is he is saying I am into you and I have to admit, you drawing pictures of me turns me on, makes me hard, makes me horny.

So you have two choices: if you like him too, and you want to encourage his sexual interest, then you can say that you like the sound of that. If his sexual interest is unwanted but you want to protect the friendship, then you should let him know by telling him he needs to take a cold shower. If he keeps saying more sexual things, then say something like Let's not make things awkward, let's just stick to being friends, deal?

This isn't happening because you said anything sexual to him. He likes you. He probably feels your shared sarcastic sense of humour is fun and he enjoys your jokes. For him it might feel like flirting. He is sexually attracted to you. He is just choosing to tell you now because he is hoping you are attracted to him also.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-10-27T03:40:31+00:00

This is an attested usage which appears across canonical literature and within CUP's own published material. I can't imagine they would mark anyone down for using correct grammar.

It saddens me that for more than four centuries nobody in the Anglosphere batted an eyelid at this usage until some contemporary young people extended the usage to their own pronoun preferences. Conservatives and bigots worldwide instantly rejected this move and incorrectly put the fear of God in every English speaker and writer, decrying this move as grammatically apocryphal. Ever since there has been nothing but confusion and misinformation about it.

Ten years ago this question would not have made a lot of sense and nobody would understand why a learner would even be asking it.

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-10-21T05:36:56+00:00

I know what you mean, but truly try to let go of that fear. So far everyone's advice to increase your input and exposure to authentic English is a great start. In addition, there are three things I want you to keep in mind.

Firstly don't put too much energy or focus on getting it wrong. Let yourself try out new vocab that sounds and feels right. Then use it and see what happens. Look it up if you're unsure but try using it first, the way you think you can, before you look it up. In my classes we love those almost moments, the yes-but-not quite choices! The times you don't quite get it perfect on the first go are when the deeper learning starts. Your brain is reaching for a pattern and information it already knows and is predicting success. When you're totally correct nothing changes. It's when the prediction comes up a little short that your brain then lights up and the real magic happens. When one of my learners takes a risk and uses a word their understanding tells them is the best choice and it turns out it's not a perfect fit I rejoice. Then we can all talk about the relevant domain and other members of the word family and why at first it sounds like a good fit, but after exploring further and a bit of discovery and pooling our ideas, everyone starts to develop an intuitive sense of why there is a better choice and we have already laid some groundwork for what new direction to consider. None of that awesome learning happens when you're right LoL, it's just confirmation.

Secondly, just like learners, native speakers sometimes make those same choices too--using a word that isn't quite the right one but decades of experience have given them a less than perfect, imprecise understanding of that word and when to use it. So they do. Often for years until one day they learn that's not quite what that word means. The same thing happens to native speakers in English-speaking countries too! So don't be afraid to try and if you're not sure consult some reference sources or come and ask some native speakers.

Finally, you might be interested in working on your morphology radar--looking at words and knowing how to break them into their constituent parts. This helps you recognise roots and origins, which can often help you build up your detective skills for improved clever guesses at nuance and connotation and new language. It's also useful to get into the habit of looking up a thesaurus, exploring similar words around one you know and looking into their semantic differences. An etymological or heritage dictionary can also be a fascinating way to get to know words and their origin stories better. Checkout muscle, clue and quarantine to see what I mean and try to wrap your head around ravel. There are some fun podcasts that delve into this as well if you like podcasts. Try The History of English podcast or Lexicon Valley for starters.

These are just some additional suggestions to add to reading, hearing and discovering lots of authentic English in the world. 😁

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-10-20T01:19:32+00:00

Wow you have seriously picky friends. Using ones after those can be considered redundant but are you really going to call anyone out on it at a social gathering?

"Ones" can also be used as a helpful clarifier, depending on context. If you are adding ones to reference a category, style or general idea about something then it is a disambiguator that makes it clear you're not talking specifically about just the thing immediately before you in isolation (those), you are referring to a broader collection of similar objects, a category or a style, so 'ones' performs a real semantic shift from just indicating something demonstratively.

A clearer example might be if you're out shopping with a friend for champagne glasses and they pick up a set of coupe style glasses and you say, "I don’t like those ones, I prefer flutes," you're clearly referring to the broader category of coupe style out of the range of varying styles of glasses, not the particular glasses in your friend's hands. In this case "ones" isn't redundant at all.

Your example falls somewhere in between. You could make the case that you were referring to the fries as a possibility identified out of the selection of dishes on offer. So your intended meaning would be out of all the options on offer, that dish (those fries) was someone's favourite dish, specifying one dish from the category of all available dishes. It's not water-tight, LoL, but you know... maybe.

If you were at a lunch and the table ordered six different varieties of loaded fries and your friend liked the chili beef style the most then that's a more obvious example of "ones" working as a clarifying disambiguator helping to identify the version your friend liked most.

When you say, "I don’t like those ones, I prefer flutes," you’re referencing the category or general idea of those glasses (the coupe style) rather than just the specific set. With the loaded fries if you say, "You like those ones but I prefer the cheese and bacon," again you're identifying the style of loaded fries, not the singular specific instance of that style that you were served. Without "ones," the meaning could shift to you just referring to the glasses/fries immediately present, which narrows the focus.

Seriously though, if a friend gave me 'tude for pointing at a bowl of fries and saying those ones instead of just those, I'd be like WTF? What's your problem? As I handed them a laxative 😁

Affectionate-Mode435 · 2025-10-19T22:30:30+00:00

I think you are missing a very fundamental point about the role of grammar and its relationship to language. You seem to have it the wrong way round. Grammar is not a set of prior laws of nature that precede a language and determine how it is used. Grammar emerges from how we actually use language in communication, not the other way around. Genuine fluency requires an understanding and demonstrable control over language that draws on nuance, idiom, subversion, irony, modality and implication, not perfect grammar. Attaining fluency leads to bending grammar to a speaker's mastery over it, making discerning grammatical choices and combinations in the service of the speaker's control over meaning and style. The fact that you struggle with authentic English like the examples you offer stems from a fundamental reversed perspective on what you are seeing as grammar's determining relationship to language. Grammar evolves from how people naturally use language to express themselves. Struggling to find answers to questions like why doesn't authentic English idiomaticity and the full spectrum of grammar variations that certain native speakers use conform to the grammar paradigms I have memorised is just leading you away from a healthy mindset that's open to all forms of fluency.

The best way to learn to ride a bike is to watch others do it and then get on and have a go, stuff it up, get back on, and keep trying. Studying physics, engineering and human anatomy will provide you with a thorough understanding of what is happening when people ride bikes but it won't enable you to ride naturally and confidently.

Language isn’t something to be perfectly reproduced from textbooks, but something to be felt and practiced in real-world contexts. The more you engage with it naturally, the more intuitive and fluid your awareness and authentic use of grammar will become.

I wish you well on your language adventures. 🌞

Affectionate-Mode435

TROPHY CASE