XoLeIn GaEpRuXoMyRuEp

Tifferbugz said:

Hihi all. I see we have ice cream?

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Singular, not plural.

slcboston said:

Singular, not plural.

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*kicks can*

jallenecs said:

I've had a jones for portal fantasy recently. Anybody got any recommendations.

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This is a bit old and is probably out of print. But you should be able to find it at a good used book store. I have a thing for portal fiction myself.

I liked "The Reluctant Swordsman", "The Coming of Wisdom" and "The Destiny of the Sword" by Dave Duncan.

Another old one that I am still trying to get on my shelf, is...

The Time of the Dark series by Barbara Hambly.

I'm not so up on anything recent, sorry.

slcboston said:

Singular, not plural.

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Actually about the whole plural/singular thing. Yes, ice cream is a non-countable noun and should be singular. But... in the original post the adjective miniature was used. It seems to me that this made it into a countable noun and therefore plural is acceptable.

This works the same way as ordering cokes at McDonalds. Coke is non-countable, but if you are ordering in sizes, it becomes countable because you are actually ordering the cups which happen to be filled with coke.

So there

Debio said:

It seems to me that this made it into a countable noun and therefore plural is acceptable.

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Except it is a large Coke, or small cups of Coke. "Cups" is the plural.


And you call yourself an English teacher.




ETA: Wait, you are teaching English there in Japan, right?

Tifferbugz said:

*kicks can*

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Tifferbugz said:

Hihi all. I see we have ice cream?

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Yes. Bos has them in his pants.

AceTachyon said:

Yes. Bos has them in his pants.

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I'm not that hungry...

I'll pass.

BigWords said:

I'm not that hungry...

I'll pass.

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But they weren't there for very long....

True, it is the cups that is supposed to take the plural, but when was the last time you ordered "three large cups of coke" and not "three large cokes".

Yes, I am an English teacher*, and it is true that the grammar books say coke can't be plural, but people look at you funny today if you say it correctly. It is assumed you are talking about the cups right?

Yes, formally it is incorrect, but when the size is predetermined, that size becomes a countable noun and the noun the size refers to is often dropped from the sentence.

Or am I totally messing this up. Keep in mind I'm teaching something closer to EFL than ESL. English that my students can use to be understood on their two week home stays and trips to New York. Not long term living English.

I still think that adding a size adjective makes it into a countable noun though. Though I need to look it up. Some other grammar magic may be happening than what I'm seeing and my grammar vocabulary is woefully lacking. I know it better in Japanese than I do in English at this point.

I should put more smileys in there, the above probably reads a whole lot harsher than intended. No harshness should be in there at all.

*technically. I'm one of those guys who came to Japan with absolutely no training and they say, "Hey, you are a native English speaker, teach English for us. Here, we'll pay you this <obsene amount of money for someone with no training or certification> to do it. You start on Monday, we already have 12 classes a week lined up. Oh, here is the text book the previous teacher used. Tell us if you have any problems."

slcboston said:

Except it is a large Coke, or small cups of Coke. "Cups" is the plural.

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But we say "I want two large Cokes."

And they say "Do you want fries with that?"

*runs away*

*sneaks into the Cantina*

*leaves a pie*

*sneaks out again*

AceTachyon said:

But they weren't there for very long....

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Are you referring to the 30 second rule? I thought that only applied to things dropped on the ground. Or is there a rule for someones pants, too?

K_Woods said:

*sneaks into the Cantina*

*leaves a pie*

*sneaks out again*

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"I want two large pies. To go with the two large Cokes."

Debio said:

Are you referring to the 30 second rule? I thought that only applied to things dropped on the ground. Or is there a rule for someones pants, too?

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I thought it was 5 seconds, and the Mythbusters blew that one apart. As for pants...do not know, do not want to know.

Debio said:

Are you referring to the 30 second rule? I thought that only applied to things dropped on the ground. Or is there a rule for someones pants, too?

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Perhaps Bos can enlighten us on the rules for his pants...

AceTachyon said:

"I want two large pies. To go with the two large Cokes."

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Evil or non-evil?

jallenecs said:

I've had a jones for portal fantasy recently. Anybody got any recommendations.

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The Castle Perilous books by John DeChancie. Fun stuff.

You'll need to hit up a used bookstore for these.

Starts with Castle Perilous.

K_Woods said:

Evil or non-evil?

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Evil, please.

Evil tastes better.

Good is so...vanilla.

Uh oh. Guess I better rethink what flavor ice cream to offer on the side.

K_Woods said:

Uh oh. Guess I better rethink what flavor ice cream to offer on the side.

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Offer the Dark Side.

No, no, no! That's cookies. Hm, this is going to take more thought than I, uh, thought.

Evil pie with a side of Iced Scream?

AceTachyon said:

Evil, please.

Evil tastes better.

Good is so...vanilla.

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Vanilla cokes!?



So glad the work day is over.

So sad I had to spend all day without teh cantina.... it's not fair.

Let's see.... what's up with me??? .... Nothing...

ok, everybody keep on keepin' on!

bettielee said:

Vanilla cokes!?

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Y'see, Bos?

"Cokes."

With an "s."