So I'm sitting here, bored out of my mind while all the other teachers are off having planning meetings for next year... And so I picked up a crossword puzzle and I actually got everything but FOUR words - FOUR LITTLE LETTERS!!!! And I have no answers to this puzzle so I am stuck and I have been staring at this page for 30 minutes and its sucking my brains out!!! Can you help me???
9 Down - Like some boxes - 6 letters - NEST**
20 Down - Swindled - 5 letters - **KEN
20 Across - Air - 4 letters - *UN*
22 Across - Parroted - 4 letters - *PE*
NOTE: the two *s, *s, *s, and *s are the same letter...
9 down- nestle?
Like you nestle boxes together?
I will admit I am horrible at cross words...
Quote from: "Eimi"9 Down - Like some boxes - 6 letters - NEST**
20 Down - Swindled - 5 letters - **KEN
20 Across - Air - 4 letters - *UN*
22 Across - Parroted - 4 letters - *PE*
9 down - nested
20 down - taken
20 across - tune
22 across - aped
Hmmm it all fits. But why "tune" for air? Sometimes I can't figure out the crossword-makers thinking!
Like "fond one" was "adorer". Is "adorer" even a word??? I think he made that one up!
A tune is sometimes called an 'air'.
Adorer sounds reasonable to me in an 'English is a great language for building words' sort of way. Not a word I would use, though! I would rewrite the sentence. (Employer / employee; adorer / adoree - that sort of logic.)
'Persons' is the word I don't understand. I was sure when I was growing up we used 'people' when there was more than one person.
Its the kind of logic my students use. They always want to be a "cooker" in the future, or use "stealer" ('a stealer took my money'), or the "liver" (the liver of the apartment). Of course, we all did that as young children learning the language too, so I don't mind it from my kids. But someone making a crossword puzzle should have better English XD
I don't think it's wrong and crossworders do tend to push the language to its limits. Like Scrabble players. (They would more technically be known as Scrabblers.)
Oh no, when I play Scrabble, I play hardball XD If it's not in the dictionary, its unacceptable as a word in play :evil3:
I LOVE Scrabble. Its my favorite game next to Risk :pal: I just love watching the boys cry when I take their last country and prove to them that women really could take over the world :kg:
Scrabble is the best thing about Facebook. The rest of it is kind of lame, but the fact that I can play scrabble with my buddy in Australia? Pretty frickin' cool, if you ask me!
I couldn't do a crossword to save my life, however.
I cheat on crosswords on a regular basis :pssst: Especially when its clues like "Syrian's President before 2000", or "Hockey legend". But see, I always make a mark on the page when I cheat, so that way it makes me feel like I'm cheating less. I count up the number of marks on the page when I finish to figure out my "score".
I love Scrabble and adore Facebook :love5: Though I couldn't do a crossword puzzle to save my life either, Yvonne :D
Eimi, you're a cheater? o.o Suddenly my world has fallen apart....
Quote from: "Dana"Eimi, you're a cheater? o.o Suddenly my world has fallen apart....
Why no! I don't
cheat! I just play by my own set of rules :zylinder:
Hah :D Nice rationalization. I use that one too sometimes.
I've tried english crosswords. My mother works at the printing agency and she gave me thick books: sudoku- and puzzle-book. There were crosswords there and half of the time I didn't even understand the clues! The "find the words" from box filled with letters were easy.
I better stick to the sudokus.
Quote from: "Jane"'Persons' is the word I don't understand. I was sure when I was growing up we used 'people' when there was more than one person.
I think 'Persons' is an older form of the plural, but if it helps I've seen it used at work, and I work for a law firm. It certainly fits in that way, and the Cambridge dictionary (UK English) confirms that 'Persons' is legal/formal usage in this country.
Yeah, I think I usually seen persons used in a formal sense more than a casual sense.
Its amazing how many little rules there are to English. I teach one of my classes all kinds of latin prefixes and suffixes. They're so convenient. You might not recognize the word, but if you see "anti-" you know its against something, if you see "-tion" its a noun...
Last night I taught them "in-" and "im" meaning "not". Like "impossible", "impolite", "indestructable". But I couldn't figure out when it was "iN" and when it was "iM". One of my ladies had an electronic dictionary and it had the answer - when it follows an "m", a "b", or a "p", it's "iM". Every other letter its "iN".
It totally blows my mind how many of these little rules native English speakers just KNOW and use without thinking. I know its the same in any language, but it certainly makes teaching your own language a challenge!
Lots of rules. Man, I had to relearn some things when I took English diction back when I was a music major. Oy.
Um...I'd offer some help, but it looks like other people beat me to it. Blar.
Quote from: "Eimi"You might not recognize the word, but if you see "anti-" you know its against something, if you see "-tion" its a noun...
That's one thing about English as a subject and language that I could never get my head around. Nouns, adjectives and verbs. Even today I couldn't tell you which was which. I love writing, but don't understand the composition - never have. I'm just not that into it.
It's like reading books and then having an indepth pick at them to discover what the writer was really talking about.
Guess that's why I'm hopeless with canon and stuff, because I read for enjoyment and entertainment, not for debate. LOL
So yeah, if my story writing sucks in any formal way - its because I really don't care as long as the story makes some sense. LOL
Quote from: "Kaysea"Nouns, adjectives and verbs. Even today I couldn't tell you which was which. I love writing, but don't understand the composition - never have.
Ditto. We never learned this at school and I've only picked up enough to identify those three (and adverbs) but nothing else. Our school was big on swimming, instead.
Apparently we might be semi-literate but none of us have ever drowned! :laughing5:
Actually, I like canon, along with all the debates it entails. Of course, Triad being 1200 Turns past Anne's canon gives a
lot of wiggle room so we needn't let canon get in the way of a good story.
Kaysea, your writing does not suck. It doesn't come close. Neither does Jane's! You guys may not be that into it, but you both write very well. You probably know the rules, you just don't realise you do. :oD
I'm good at spelling. I've got a great imagination (or so my mum always told me. LOL), I can write descriptive passages to really 'paint a picture' - just don't ask me anything formal to do with writing and composition, I just never had a head for it.
I also don't have that great an imagination - (if I did Harry Potter would have been written by KJ Coulter not JK Rowling. LOL) - I love playin gin other worlds, but couldn't create one of my own if my life depended on it.
I'm a frustrated writer who has no orginal ideas of her own. Hence I make the most of AM's world!
Thanks for the compliment though, Amanda. And as I've told you before I enjoy your writing/writing with you, too.
Ah, Kaysea...we have so much in common. It's a shame you can't come over and share tea. :(
I'm with Kaysea and Amanda: not enough imagination to come up with my own world or ideas.
Ah, well, I have plenty of imagination, but I suck at descriptions. They are the bane of my existance. I'd be better writing a screenplay XD Conversation comes much easier for me to write.
I would be much better writer if I could use my native language. :(
I can't play with the words in english the sama way I could with finnish. Besides english doesn't "bend" sameway.
And if you ever see me misspell or othewise stumble with grammar, don't hesitate to point it out.
I don't think you have too much to worry about with your spelling and grammar interfering with your storytelling hun. Your stories are still fun to read - and your characters well rounded, even if sometimes the spelling is a little quirky. :)
But I'll jump on the wagon with you hun, I like to know that if I make a spelling error/typo - my coposter will correct it if I miss it.
And ... English is my first language - though at times you wouldn't think so. LOL
That's good to know Kaysea. I have corrected a couple that I spied. You've probably smiled a gazillion in mine!
I correct spelling in my coposters stuff, when it's obviously a spelling mistake / typo. I like to get them to fix the more baffling things ... Missing words, sentences that don't make sense. (I do a few of these myself!)
I also proof-read my last contribution ONLY when it comes back; reply fast then read through it next time I get the email back, and make changes if necessary.
:laughing5: This method falls apart though, when Vix is my coposter. :laughing5:
I make lots of mistakes. I've even cut off a sentence because my brain is going so fast that I forget to finish it. Goodness knows how many spelling errors my coposters have found.
Sometimes, I start to delete the OOC comments and then only get part of them and so that can make things look weird too. :-/
Quote from: "Jane"I correct spelling in my coposters stuff, when it's obviously a spelling mistake / typo. I like to get them to fix the more baffling things ... Missing words, sentences that don't make sense. (I do a few of these myself!)
I also proof-read my last contribution ONLY when it comes back; reply fast then read through it next time I get the email back, and make changes if necessary.
:laughing5: This method falls apart though, when Vix is my coposter. :laughing5:
Hey!
My system works for me.
How many mistakes have you caught from me Vix? :)
Quote from: "Amanda N"How many mistakes have you caught from me Vix? :)
:erschreckt:
Who knew mistakes were contagious!
Quote from: "Vix"Quote from: "Jane":laughing5: This method falls apart though, when Vix is my coposter. :laughing5:
Hey!
My system works for me.
Well may I suggest you run the occasional spellcheck for Jane's (and mine and Amanda's) contributions? LOL
Quote from: "Kaysea"Quote from: "Vix"Quote from: "Jane":laughing5: This method falls apart though, when Vix is my coposter. :laughing5:
Hey!
My system works for me.
Well may I suggest you run the occasional spellcheck for Jane's (and mine and Amanda's) contributions? LOL
I do that -- though I leave the NZ/Aussie "mistakes" intact.
My problems occur when you decide to edit your previous works.
I normally let you know when I do it....
*looks sideways at Jane*
Quote from: "Amanda N"How many mistakes have you caught from me Vix? :)
Basically, I have my spellcheck running and unless it's a British version, I correct.
Sometimes I tell people that I've corrected, sometimes not. In some cases it's to their benefit: for example, someone like Paula who knows English as a third (isn't it? or only second?) language, I usually explain, particularly if it's some idiom that's not easily translatable or a mistake that has occurred several times.
Quote from: "Vix"I do that -- though I leave the NZ/Aussie "mistakes" intact.
They are, of course, not mistakes at all!
Quote from: "Vix"My problems occur when you decide to edit your previous works.
Which I do, all the time. I shall have to remember to tell you so that I don't have to do the same amendments a dozen times.
:laughing5:
Oh Vix, I love you! Thank you for correcting my mistakes! :)
I don't correct anybody's mistakes - mainly because I'm never quite sure which are mistakes, and which are from the differences in spelling and usage!