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I never saw the forms ageing and eyeing in (professional) print before about twenty years ago. (Recently I saw another surprising –eing word but don't remember what it was.)
In my day, final silent e was dropped before ing except in dyeing (to distinguish dye from die) and singeing (to distinguish singe from sing). I also feel obliged to mention seeing, fleeing, agreeing because some clown will if I don't.
Are They teaching a different standard now? If so, what the heck is the new rule? Why ageing and not *pageing or indeed *takeing? — Tamfang ( talk) 06:04, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
I'd just like to add that keeping the "e" in the present participle of verbs whose stems end in "-ye" not only persists in British English, but may also remain productive in certain, American neologisms.
e.g. "to lye" (to put lye in one's hair) "to rye" (to mix rye into flour) or "to bye" (to advance in a tournament without needing play a match).
"I'm lyeing my hair to make it straighter." "Mom is ryeing the dough because that makes it crunchier." "We're byeing Notre Dame into the 2nd round, so that some of the weaker teams get eliminated first."
Pine ( talk) 07:46, 11 September 2012 (UTC)
this reads oddly to me. Is it? So does "outside of". Kittybrewster ☎ 16:50, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
When writing a novel, what's considered the correct way, or how does an author usually handle the use of two (or more) languages briefly being spoken in the same book?
Forexample: The book is written in english and the main character also speaks english, but then he/she meets another character from Norway, and the two initiate a dialogue. The main character who is english happens to speak and understand Norwegian, so they speak to each other in Norwegian. But obviously the reader will likely not understand Norwegian, so each time something is written in Norwegian the author must follow up by repeating the same words/sentences in English so that the reader can understand it.
So do I write something like this:
'God dag,' (Well met) he said, before shaking her hand.
or
'God dag,' Well met, he said, before shaking her hand.
or
'God dag,' he said, before shaking her hand. Well met.
Obviously the last alternative there seem very awkward to me, but I'm not sure how to handle this.
Any feedback will be appreciated. It would be nice however if you made clear whether you're simply expressing you personal opinion or if you're actually quite certain that your method is a correct one.
109.247.62.59 ( talk) 18:12, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
I would usually agree with you, but sometimes reason can be found for doing it the way I was originally thinking. But I'm still thankful for your reply — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.247.62.59 ( talk) 18:28, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
Hehe, it's not a documentary ;) Anyway, the things being said is best said in its real language, and sometimes an author just have to decide how to go about it, and I kind of have. I'm just not sure exactly how best to repeat/translate the things being said. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.247.62.59 ( talk) 18:49, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
Not sure where you got the swedish from, Looie. "god dag" is rightly enough swedish, but also Norwegian. They're very similar languages. Almost the same. But guys, the "god dag" was in fact just an example since some of you didn't understand that :D The things being said is not as simple as two words, and for the sake of power and meaning behind what's being said, it needs to be spoken in its true language. But i thank you all for replies.
109.247.62.59 (
talk) 19:09, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
- "Färja," said the guide, touching his shoulder.
- "What! a boat?"
- "Der," replied Hans, pointing to one.
- "Yes," I cried; "there is a boat."
- "Why did not you say so then? Well, let us go on."
- "Tidvatten," said the guide.
- "What is he saying?"
- "He says tide," said my uncle, translating the Danish word.
- "No doubt we must wait for the tide."
- "Förbida," said my uncle.
- "Ja," replied Hans.
- My uncle stamped with his foot, while the horses went on to the boat.
- I perfectly understood the necessity of abiding a particular moment of the tide to undertake the crossing of the fiord, when, the sea having reached its greatest height, it should be slack water.
Hello -
I'm very new to Hebrew, in a lot of ways, and I need a question answered as quickly as possible here. Could someone give me the word כי with the vowels? As in: תן לי כי (give me that)?
Thank you. -- Brasswatchman ( talk) 22:58, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
Language desk | ||
---|---|---|
< September 7 | << Aug | September | Oct >> | September 9 > |
Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives |
---|
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages. |
I never saw the forms ageing and eyeing in (professional) print before about twenty years ago. (Recently I saw another surprising –eing word but don't remember what it was.)
In my day, final silent e was dropped before ing except in dyeing (to distinguish dye from die) and singeing (to distinguish singe from sing). I also feel obliged to mention seeing, fleeing, agreeing because some clown will if I don't.
Are They teaching a different standard now? If so, what the heck is the new rule? Why ageing and not *pageing or indeed *takeing? — Tamfang ( talk) 06:04, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
I'd just like to add that keeping the "e" in the present participle of verbs whose stems end in "-ye" not only persists in British English, but may also remain productive in certain, American neologisms.
e.g. "to lye" (to put lye in one's hair) "to rye" (to mix rye into flour) or "to bye" (to advance in a tournament without needing play a match).
"I'm lyeing my hair to make it straighter." "Mom is ryeing the dough because that makes it crunchier." "We're byeing Notre Dame into the 2nd round, so that some of the weaker teams get eliminated first."
Pine ( talk) 07:46, 11 September 2012 (UTC)
this reads oddly to me. Is it? So does "outside of". Kittybrewster ☎ 16:50, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
When writing a novel, what's considered the correct way, or how does an author usually handle the use of two (or more) languages briefly being spoken in the same book?
Forexample: The book is written in english and the main character also speaks english, but then he/she meets another character from Norway, and the two initiate a dialogue. The main character who is english happens to speak and understand Norwegian, so they speak to each other in Norwegian. But obviously the reader will likely not understand Norwegian, so each time something is written in Norwegian the author must follow up by repeating the same words/sentences in English so that the reader can understand it.
So do I write something like this:
'God dag,' (Well met) he said, before shaking her hand.
or
'God dag,' Well met, he said, before shaking her hand.
or
'God dag,' he said, before shaking her hand. Well met.
Obviously the last alternative there seem very awkward to me, but I'm not sure how to handle this.
Any feedback will be appreciated. It would be nice however if you made clear whether you're simply expressing you personal opinion or if you're actually quite certain that your method is a correct one.
109.247.62.59 ( talk) 18:12, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
I would usually agree with you, but sometimes reason can be found for doing it the way I was originally thinking. But I'm still thankful for your reply — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.247.62.59 ( talk) 18:28, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
Hehe, it's not a documentary ;) Anyway, the things being said is best said in its real language, and sometimes an author just have to decide how to go about it, and I kind of have. I'm just not sure exactly how best to repeat/translate the things being said. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.247.62.59 ( talk) 18:49, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
Not sure where you got the swedish from, Looie. "god dag" is rightly enough swedish, but also Norwegian. They're very similar languages. Almost the same. But guys, the "god dag" was in fact just an example since some of you didn't understand that :D The things being said is not as simple as two words, and for the sake of power and meaning behind what's being said, it needs to be spoken in its true language. But i thank you all for replies.
109.247.62.59 (
talk) 19:09, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
- "Färja," said the guide, touching his shoulder.
- "What! a boat?"
- "Der," replied Hans, pointing to one.
- "Yes," I cried; "there is a boat."
- "Why did not you say so then? Well, let us go on."
- "Tidvatten," said the guide.
- "What is he saying?"
- "He says tide," said my uncle, translating the Danish word.
- "No doubt we must wait for the tide."
- "Förbida," said my uncle.
- "Ja," replied Hans.
- My uncle stamped with his foot, while the horses went on to the boat.
- I perfectly understood the necessity of abiding a particular moment of the tide to undertake the crossing of the fiord, when, the sea having reached its greatest height, it should be slack water.
Hello -
I'm very new to Hebrew, in a lot of ways, and I need a question answered as quickly as possible here. Could someone give me the word כי with the vowels? As in: תן לי כי (give me that)?
Thank you. -- Brasswatchman ( talk) 22:58, 8 September 2012 (UTC)