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dant.gwyrdd

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Everything posted by dant.gwyrdd

  1. I'd say the highlighted part is more or less what I think. To take its/it's as an example--say someone writes: Its a nice day today. If that is really a grammatical error, then that would mean that the grammar of whoever wrote it allows (1) possessives which don't modify anything, and either (2) entirely verbless sentences or (3) sentences with an omitted copula (essentially a special case of (2)) in much wider contexts than allowed in standard English. (For examples, see (1), (2), (3).) Granted, in isolation one couldn't really tell whether the sentence above contains a spelling or a grammar error, but I think we can agree that it is far more likely that native speakers who write things like the example above don't really intend to use a possessive form of it, but are, in fact, trying to write the contracted form of it + is and think that the way to do it is to write 'its'. Otherwise, they would be using a really funky way to write a nice day today belongs to it... whatever 'it' may be.
  2. Most of the errors mentioned here are not grammatical but spelling errors.
  3. Well, an inch or two of snow is nice and can make everything look pretty, but it stops being fun when you have to wade through a foot of snow just to get out of your house and walk on the road since the sidewalks are completely under it as I had to do yesterday... then it just becomes very bothersome. And wet.
  4. Getting ready for the second semester of grad school...

  5. Both my username and avatar are movie-related: the avatar is, as some probably know, Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke in one of the weirdest (I mean that as a compliment) movies ever--Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (after the book of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson). The username is a reference to a character of a Serbian (Yugoslav) movie, a made up funky http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPQZNnLG_4k... sort of: "a fighter against boredom, of a sharp wit with the superpower of highly refined sense of humor which makes his enemies go amuck" (btw. his arch-nemesis is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz0yFVtn4hk. His name is "Zeleni Zub", meaning "green tooth" and I first used it when I had to think of a username for something while having a toothache. Over the years it morphed into Welsh ("dant gwyrrd" meaning the same thing... as far as I know), because Welsh is so darn cool.
  6. I used (and liked) Word Smart for the GRE (2nd ed.) from Princeton Review, but I hadn't used anything else so I can't really compare. I ended up getting 620 on the GRE, I'm a non-native speaker, but I've also had two years of Latin in high school, and about four years of French, which I think was very helpful considering the origin of a lot of the GRE words. (Plus, I've been studying English for ages, including the academic level of study.)
  7. You need the DS-2019 (the form in question) to get a J-1 visa and to prove your legal status once in the US. However, if you'll be going to the US on an F-1 visa, you will need the I-20 instead.
  8. Some linguistics PhD programs don't require it. (Namely, MIT & UConn, I don't know if there are more.)
  9. Don't pretty much all modern-day carriers use GSM? The main difference between the US and Europe in that regard is that they use different GSM frequencies--specifically, most providers in Europe work on GSM 900/1800 while in the US most of them use GSM 850/1900. The problem arises if your phone can only work on one set of frequencies, i.e., you can't use a dual-band European-market GSM 900/1800 phone in the States since it won't support the GSM frequencies used in the US and vice versa. However, a lot of phones nowdays are quad-band, meaning they support all four frequencies and can thus be used either in the US or in Europe--you just need to check that in your phone specifications. Maybe it's not a scam, but simply a case of low-level support not really knowing how stuff works. I used a pre-paid ATT card in my locked ATT phone, unlocked ATT phone and unlocked non-ATT phone and it worked just fine in all of them.
  10. I'm also not from the States and I wrote everything myself. I would agree with you that it would be very unethical to write anything for her. However, I do think going over her material would be perfectly fine, especially since you're a native speaker and she's not. Personally, I regularly proofread some of my friends' papers and even comment on content and how comprehensible they are. (I never correct anything myself--even my technical corrections come in the form of comments.)
  11. Actually, it's the other way around, since I'm fairly certain that the most common paper size used in the States is letter (I never encountered anything else there while printing), which is slightly wider, but shorter than A4. (Which also answers your question regarding which one you should use.) Edit: Potentially useful link: http://betweenborder...4-vs-us-letter/
  12. I'm looking forward to (hoping for) a European-S. American final, and I would really like to see Germany in it.
  13. Who knows, at one of my institutions Thursday was shortened to X. Anyway, the only logical option would be T, but that's already taken by Tuesday, so it has to be something else. On topic: I haven't registered yet--my info letter says it's recommended to do it after I meet with my adviser; however, I've already heard from a current student (who was my official current student welcoming committee) that my first semester is fixed, and she already told me which classes I'll be taking (and what books she recommends I read to brush up for each).
  14. I think the whole app is more geared towards tourist/business visas where it's more natural to refer to the whole thing (i.e., flights, food & logging, etc.) within "the price of the trip" than in our case where the "stay" part is measured in years instead of weeks and where most of us will probably have several physical trips to the US during that period.
  15. @lion22: Yeah, I agree with Bumblebee: in your case I'd put "self" as well. @Bumblebee: I'm pretty sure that "trip" in this sense is not just the physical trip from where you are to where your school is, but your entire stay in the US. I decided to go with the evidence (I-20) and put "my school" there since it's listed on the form as the source of funds for that more expensive part of the trip.
  16. Yeah, I pondered that too and the lecturer I wanted to ask said that she'd love to do it, but also advised me that it could hurt my chances if I didn't get all of my LoRs from professors.
  17. I taught English as a foreign language at a private school, with tutoring and translating on the side. I am not going to miss it, I hate teaching beginner English (I substituted at higher levels and that was much more fun).
  18. I'll have to second ebaronov--I've just had my interview today and the consular officer just wished me a good morning and asked me literally TWO questions: "So, you're going to <university>?" and "Why did you choose <university>?" After that he typed something on a computer and informed me that I was eligible for an F-1 visa and that my passport should arrive to my home address in two days.
  19. Hey guys, I also have a question regarding phone plans. After an inordinate amount of research (picking a phone plan is so much simpler and cheaper where I come from), I decided on one of T-Mobile's Even More Plus plans (namely, Even More Plus 500 Talk + Text) which seems to be the best for me. Since I'm an international, I won't have any credit history and I was wondering do you think they would do a credit check and deny me on those grounds even for an Even More Plus plan? The EMPlus plans are without an annual contract and I wouldn't be getting a phone with the plan from T-Mobile. I would hate to be stuck on prepaid since so far it seems definite that prepaid would be more expensive for me per month.
  20. If universities start investing in KIA retail instead of PhD students after this season, it's going to be your fault for giving them the idea
  21. Thanks for the answers guys. Yeah, I figure it wouldn't be a big deal to make a mistake there (since I have proof of funds), I just don't like being wrong. And my reasoning is akin to kalapocska's, but Beck's way would definitely be simpler (in the terms of not having to fill out additional fields which come up when you choose any option other than "self"). Eh... forms.
  22. I was making my way through the DS-160 when I stumbled upon this question in the travel information section of the form--Person/entity paying for your trip and I can choose one of the following: self, other person, or company/organization. And I'm not sure which answer is the correct one. I'm getting a full ride from my university which includes a predoctoral fellowship and a graduate assistantship; these funds are listed as "funds from this school" on my I-20. The question is: since, technically, I will be working for my money and thus will be paying for any expenses myself, do I put "self" as the person paying for my trip OR since those funds are listed as funds from my university on the I-20 do I put the university as the entity paying for my trip? And in case of the latter, is their relationship to me "employer" or "other"? Personally, I'm more inclined to think it's the latter, but I could see it either way. I won't be able to call the embassy until Monday, so any input from people who've already been through this would be appreciated.
  23. On that note, try inquiring about grants with your Ministry of Education or Youth (or their equivalents). It's a long shot, but I recently discovered a potential source of funding with them in my country for which I previously didn't know about.
  24. You're usually subject to the rule if you're either partially or fully funded by the US gov't (esp. USAID) and/or the training/education you're pursuing on the J visa is on your country’s skills list (i.e., your country needs you! ). As far as I know, the two year rule makes you ineligible for immigration and dual-intent visas (like the H visas), but you can still get a B (tourist), F (student) or even another J (exchange) visa (which doesn't remove the requirement, you still have to complete your initial 2 year residence for it to go away).
  25. Well, to tell you the truth, as a European I feel kind of bad having to argue against it, even though I'd otherwise fully encourage it Anyway, but that's only one of the options--there is also an option of doing a funded program at Ole Miss in which case the OP would neither pay for her studies (other than the ~$600/semester) nor increase her debt. And then, she could go off to do her PhD studies in Europe (I know I'm definitely going for a post-doc in Europe... or in Mongolia, but that's a different story ) if she were so inclined and live there relatively comfortably (as a student) on the income you quoted.
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