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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Feb 2003
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Near vermilion,ones get stained red;Near ink,ones get stained black
I'm a Hong Konger,well..When i wrote my essay,my Australian teacher said it's "Chinese English"
well..I ain't native speaker so that i really can't make a justification but i just wanna know if it's so-called" Chinese English".I bet many of you guys here could give very good advice.THANKS !!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The problem is there is nothing to tell you what "ones" refers to. Making it singular ("Near vermilion, one gets stained red; near ink, one gets stained black") would help. In very formal language we can use "one" to mean something like "the typical person", but this only works in the singular. "Ones" must have an obvious plural antecedent -- something already mentioned that "ones" refers to.
As to whether this is a typical mistake of Chinese speakers, I couldn't say.
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Perhaps using "people" instead of "ones" would be better.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
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Or fingers. It could be one's fingers that get stained.
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Carpal Tunnel
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to make things more confusing, i would never use the term vermilion for red ink!
the ink might be vermilion (red), but generally in US, one speaks of red ink -- in accounting red ink is sometimes used to record a loss, so businesses in financial trouble are sometimes said to be "swimming in red ink".
in the context, it was quite clear that vermilion meant red ink, but i would not generally substitute one for the other in commonly spoken english.
Still one of the joys of english is is flexibility. I am sure everyone understood the statement, but i suspect most would agree with me, in saying they have nevered used the word vermilion (by itself!) to mean red ink.
the use of red ink might be implied, ("the vermilion lettering stood out", but if asked about them, most would say the vermilion letters on the page were made with red ink, not that they were made with vermilion.
vermillion is used almost exclusively as a color (a specific shade of dark red).
likewise, it might be "as dark as midnight" (very dark!) but to describe the sky or ceiling, we would say the ceiling was painted midnight blue.--making it very clear that 'midnight' in the second sample is a color.
It was as dark as midnight when we entered and the flashlight did little to break the darkness, though it did help us find a light switch. Even with the lights on, the room remained very somber. There was very little reflected light; the walls were covered with books and the ceiling was painted a midnight blue.
anding to all this confusing, there are exceptions! (but of course, i can't think of any right now...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear of troy: to tease you gently, what color is "midnight blue"? It looks rather black to me.
Dear suededevil: I wonder if the "parable" you are quoting is a translation from Chinese.
I cannot think of a way to say it without it being a bit awkward. The boys who worked
as assistants to printers were called "printer's devils" because they got ink on their faces
from carelessness, as well as on their hands.
The only such "parable" I can remember was told by a speaker at my Highschool
graduation. To warn us that we should not associate with bad people, he said: "If you
lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas."
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Suede gets high marks for using ain't though. Now we'll have to introduce the term y'all. Jackie, would you care to have the honors?
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Carpal Tunnel
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suede
just as a pointless aside, I've been reading suededevil as 'sue-de-devil'
-tsue-em :)
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sue-de-devil
Ha! I knew I wasn't the only one.
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Carpal Tunnel
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