From: "alexander koryagin" <koryagin@erec.ru>

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".

<skipped>
 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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