User Comments - joeborn
joeborn
Posted on: Custom-Made Shoes
November 15, 2012, 07:40 PMHere's the same issue from a different angle. There's no 來 in "我按你的方法試了一次，可是沒成功," which is another expansion sentence. Would that sentence mean anything different if we did put a 來 in it, i.e., if it were "我按你的方法來試了一次，可是沒成功"?
Posted on: Custom-Made Shoes
November 15, 2012, 07:20 PMDoes 來 sometimes somehow go with 按 ? In the expansion sentences we find "你可以按價格的高低來搜索商品" and "我們會盡量按客人的要求來安排房間," in both of which I'm not sure exactly what function "來" performs. Can anyone shed light on what its function is in those contexts?
Posted on: Negotiating with a Taobao Merchant
April 10, 2012, 12:23 AMThanks a lot.
Posted on: Negotiating with a Taobao Merchant
April 09, 2012, 02:08 PMIn the expansion sentences, "谢谢你帮我修改" is translated as "Thanks for helping me correct it." Am I correct in assuming that it could just as well mean "Thanks for correcting it for me"? That is, it is only context that enables the native speaker to distinguish between those two meanings?
Posted on: Discussing Graphs
March 25, 2012, 01:03 AMIn the expansion sentences, might 雜誌 rather than 雜志 be the traditional for 杂志?
Posted on: A Qing Wen to Our Listeners
March 10, 2012, 12:01 PMAnother source is listener comments on other lessons' "Discussion" tabs. Among those comments are often questions that go unanswered.
Posted on: Volunteering in China
March 07, 2012, 02:55 PMThe translation given for the expansion sentence "打牌没意义" is "Playing cards is boring." Is this a good translation? In light of the translations given for 有意义, I would have thought 没意义 meant something like "pointless."
Posted on: Volunteering in China
March 07, 2012, 02:47 PMThe dialogue and two expansion sentences all use "还以为" rather than just "以为." How does that change the meaning? I know that "还" often means "still" or "also," but those meanings don't seem apt here.
Posted on: Hospitality Series 1: Welcome to the Hilton!
September 11, 2011, 02:25 PMThanks a lot for the response. It helps my meager confidence to hear that I got it right for once!
Posted on: Custom-Made Shoes
November 15, 2012, 08:20 PMMark, thanks for the reply. But I don't quite get it.
The "to" in "I stopped drinking to improve my health" serves to introduce an infinitive used adverbially--i.e., there's a verb, namely, "stopped," that "to improve" modifies. In contrast, if "來搜索商品" in ""你可以按價格的高低來搜索商品"" were an adverbial phrase, the only verb it could modify would be "可以," which seems unlikely.
As I think about it, I'm beginning to suspect it has the nearly-meaning-free effect of "come" in "come blow your horn," since I believe I've seen a similar usage in non-按-containing contexts: i.e., maybe it has no connection with 按 at all.