Wordwizard

Erik_Kowal wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 10, 2018 9:44 pm

I think this is one of those cases where the context determines the meaning.

There are no other cases. Context always determines meaning. It is only a matter of degree.

3 is fine. The comma in 4 does not really change the meaning. It just makes the clause parenthetical. As I said in your other similar post, the "because" meaning is rare, and the context for that meaning has to be well established for people to understand that meaning. We would almost always prefer ...

Your German teacher was wrong. German has exactly the same structure(s). Yes. On the face of it, they allow some nuance to the degree of badness/goodness, but often they seem to be an ironic understatement. "I'm afraid we hit the main water pipe when we were fixing the pothole. The road will need to...

A couple of weeks ago, I had to have an emergency laser operation on my remaining half-eye and was slightly worried when the surgeon said "I think I should tell you, Mr. White, that this intervention is not entirely pain-free." She was right. It was not pain-free in the way that having six-inch nail...

I concur with Erik. For meaning b, you need the past progressive in both clauses: "I was playing chess as my father was". (The second past progressive is ellipted). The "because" meaning of "as" is rare nowadays: "As you are here, can you help me move the sofa?" -> "Since you're here, can you help m...

Sentence 1: As Erik says, this would be unusual. "Because" would be normal.
Sentence 2: This is a grammatically correct formulation and the "as" is okay, but it is an entirely bizarre utterance. But the structure is okay, as in "He forgot, as people can".

"The plate has a chip on it" never happens. Sheba always licks the platter clean. Very fond of chips, she is - either US chips or UK chips...

Seriously, though ... I am not sure whether I would use "chip on it" and "chip off it" differently (if I were to use "chip off it" at all): It has a chip on it -> The chip is small and can possibly be hidden or would not really be noticed. It has a chip off it -> There is a significant lump missing

Ah, Jim, you do not change! It is refreshing to see that pedantry is alive and well!

They are grammatically correct.

Not knowing the context, I cannot judge whether one show is objectively better than the other and therefore whether either sentence is objectively correct .

Frankly, the "with" sounds odd to me, with or without the comma. I would probably use "from": "He was limping from a sprained ankle". This always implies causality. The comma would merely make it parenthetical, as Erik says. I would use "with" in a sentence like "He was in hospital/at home/in bed wi...

Nice find, Tony.

Problem with all of the products is that they always seem to have an even number of pegs, and I always seem to have an odd number of socks...

Don't get me started, Tony...

This one goes under the name of a "drying rack", but there is no specific name for them. "Hanger dryer", "portable hanging clothes dryer" are other names you will see.

Thanks for that, Ken.

What an entirely ghastly development, of which I was entirely unaware.