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From: "alexander koryagin"
F2EP
Hi, Ardith Hinton! How are you?
on Wednesday, 23 of April, I read your message to alexander koryagin
about ""thing out" verb"
-----Beginning of the citation-----
"Here," he said. "We go on through here. The entrance is concealed."
Harry did not ask how Dumbledore knew. He had never seen a wizard work
things out like this, simply by looking and touching; but Harry had long
since learned that bangs and smoke were more often the marks of
ineptitude than expertise.
-----The end of the citation-----
AH> Yes, expertise is often taken for granted because the expert makes
AH> whatever s/he is doing *look* so easy. Harry is smart enough to
AH> realize his mentor takes things into account which he may not have
AH> noticed... [chuckle].
I read the rule on this account: "after 'let' and 'make' we use bare
infinitive."
ak>> It seems that "things out" is a verb and it has the similar
ak>> meaning to "looks".
AH> As I imagine you've worked out by now:
AH> * "work" is a verb here -- yes, in the infinitive form
The trouble for me was the absence of "to" before the infinitive
"work".
AH> I am reminded of how, as a student of French, I sweated blood over
AH> ordinary everyday words which had numerous definitions. OTOH I can
AH> use some polysyllabic Latin-based word in E_T & my Russian friends
AH> don't miss a beat. Chances are they've studied Latin... or if not
AH> they will see only one or two definitions when they look up the
AH> word. There, in a nutshell, is why I have difficulty with the idea
AH> that a small or severely limited vocabulary makes a language easier
AH> to learn. In daily life I must make distinctions like this:
AH> M. Sally Forth (i.e. a cartoon character whose name is a pun, if
AH> you think about it) is working at the gym.
AH> N. I understood she had some paid employment, but didn't know what
AH> her job was. Is she a receptionist, a cleaning woman, Ms. Fix-It,
AH> or what...?
AH> ...
AH> M. Sally Forth is working out at the gym because she is hoping to
AH> work off the extra weight she gained during the Christmas season.
AH> N. Ah. Sally isn't getting paid $$$ for her work... she is paying
AH> for the privilege of using the equipment which the gym has to offer
AH> & which she doesn't have at home. Now we are into quite a different
AH> scenario. :-)
It is especially confusing when you translate some text aloud, to the
listeners, and suddenly you realize that the text means somthing quite
different. ;-) But does "Sally is working at the gym" sound poorly
because it allowes multiple nterpretations? IMHO we must avoid such
sentences.
[...If a person barks at people he lives as a dog, too]
Bye Ardith!
Alexander (yAlexKo[]yandex.ru) + 2:5020/2140.91
fido7.english-tutor 2014
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