1709: Inflection - Revision history

82.132.238.245: /* Explanation */ More sensible list-commas ("A, B and C"), plus adding one clausal comma ("often, and even usually, combined"). Made dashes positively distinct from mere hyphens again.

2026-03-05T13:55:36Z

‎Explanation: More sensible list-commas ("A, B and C"), plus adding one clausal comma ("often, and even usually, combined"). Made dashes positively distinct from mere hyphens again.

134.60.67.135: /* Explanation */

2026-03-05T09:40:51Z

‎Explanation

172.70.178.108: /* Explanation */

2023-11-01T16:20:18Z

‎Explanation

Sir Urquhart: Undo revision 289337 by 108.162.245.177 (talk)

2022-07-20T19:05:27Z

Undo revision 289337 by 108.162.245.177 (talk)

108.162.245.177 at 18:10, 20 July 2022

2022-07-20T18:10:21Z

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@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-While walking, [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that in {{w|inflected languages}}—such as {{w|German language|German}}—changes to a word change its meaning, in a predictable way. Megan exemplifies this with how {{w|plural}} forms of {{w|nouns}} are created by sticking an "s" at the end, and {{w|past tense}} of a {{w|verb}} is done by the suffix "ed". Megan then explains that this works well in {{w|languages}} which build on {{w|alphabets}}.
+While walking, [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that in {{w|inflected languages}} — such as {{w|German language|German}} — changes to a word change its meaning, in a predictable way. Megan exemplifies this with how {{w|plural}} forms of {{w|nouns}} are created by sticking an "s" at the end, and {{w|past tense}} of a {{w|verb}} is done by the suffix "ed". Megan then explains that this works well in {{w|languages}} which build on {{w|alphabets}}.
-She continues to explain that their {{w|Indo-European languages|language family}} belongs to those that are inflected, but the {{w|Modern English|English branch}} is becoming less inflected than it used to be. Specifically this explains why English does not have so many conjugations as {{w|Latin conjugations|Latin}}. A conjugation is a pattern of inflections, describing how a particular group of verbs is altered from its root form to represent different grammatical cases. Only verbs have conjugations (are ''conjugated''); nouns, pronouns, and adjectives are described by declensions (and are ''declined''). All inflected languages can be described by conjugations and declensions, although Latin is one of the most commonly cited, perhaps because Latin grammar was taught for centuries by monotonous rote learning of the conjugations and declensions.
+She continues to explain that their {{w|Indo-European languages|language family}} belongs to those that are inflected, but the {{w|Modern English|English branch}} is becoming less inflected than it used to be. Specifically this explains why English does not have so many conjugations as {{w|Latin conjugations|Latin}}. A conjugation is a pattern of inflections, describing how a particular group of verbs is altered from its root form to represent different grammatical cases. Only verbs have conjugations (are ''conjugated''); nouns, pronouns and adjectives are described by declensions (and are ''declined''). All inflected languages can be described by conjugations and declensions, although Latin is one of the most commonly cited, perhaps because Latin grammar was taught for centuries by monotonous rote learning of the conjugations and declensions.
 A part of a typical Latin conjugation would be the verb ''amare'' ‘to love’:
@@ Line 91: / Line 91: @@
+|
 |}
-(The English singular uses archaic forms to highlight the number and person.)  A complete conjugation includes all tenses (Present, Imperfect, Future, Perfect, Pluperfect, and Puture Perfect), both voices (Active, Passive), and all moods (Indicative, Imperative, Subjunctive). Other parts of speech—infinitives, participles, gerunds, and so forth—are needed to completely define the verb, but are not usually considered to be part of the conjugation.
+(The English singular uses archaic forms to highlight the number and person.)  A complete conjugation includes all tenses (Present, Imperfect, Future, Perfect, Pluperfect and Puture Perfect), both voices (Active, Passive) and all moods (Indicative, Imperative, Subjunctive). Other parts of speech — infinitives, participles, gerunds and so forth — are needed to completely define the verb, but are not usually considered to be part of the conjugation.
-Cueball then asks ''Could that mean that English writing might be ripe to become more pictographic?'' Instead of using traditional words, Megan replies with three {{w|emojis}} "Thumbs up" (like), "Applause", and a smiley—thus showing a pictographic version of the writing which has become more popular in the last years. Emoji has become a [[:Category:Emoji|recurring theme]] on xkcd.
+Cueball then asks ''Could that mean that English writing might be ripe to become more pictographic?'' Instead of using traditional words, Megan replies with three {{w|emojis}} "Thumbs up" (like), "Applause" and a smiley — thus showing a pictographic version of the writing which has become more popular in the last years. Emoji has become a [[:Category:Emoji|recurring theme]] on xkcd.
-The writing systems of many languages have both {{w|pictographic}} and {{w|ideographic}} origins. "Pictographic" means that they are pictures of some thing that will remind the reader of either the pronunciation or the meaning of the word. The letter "A", for example, originated from a word meaning "ox", but was meant to remind readers of the glottal stop (it wasn't until the Ancient Greeks, who didn't have the glottal stop as a distinct phoneme, got a hold of the Phoenician version that it was transferred to the vowel(s) it is today). "Ideographic" means that they are designed, through pictures, to illustrate some idea. An example would be a "No Smoking" sign, where a red circle with a diagonal line is an abstract representation of "no". In fact, the three emojis used in the third panel of this cartoon are all ideographic, not pictographic, under this definition. "Thumbs up" (like), "Applause", and the smiley, are all emojis that remind us of a concept of approval.
+The writing systems of many languages have both {{w|pictographic}} and {{w|ideographic}} origins. "Pictographic" means that they are pictures of some thing that will remind the reader of either the pronunciation or the meaning of the word. The letter "A", for example, originated from a word meaning "ox", but was meant to remind readers of the glottal stop (it wasn't until the Ancient Greeks, who didn't have the glottal stop as a distinct phoneme, got a hold of the Phoenician version that it was transferred to the vowel(s) it is today). "Ideographic" means that they are designed, through pictures, to illustrate some idea. An example would be a "No Smoking" sign, where a red circle with a diagonal line is an abstract representation of "no". In fact, the three emojis used in the third panel of this cartoon are all ideographic, not pictographic, under this definition. "Thumbs up" (like), "Applause" and the smiley are all emojis that remind us of a concept of approval.
-{{w|Egyptian hieroglyphics}} contain many pictorial elements, some of which are pictographic in the sense that they are meant to represent the thing that they picture, but many are more abstract (ideographic) or are used for their {{w|phonetic}} value (as "A" was used in early alphabetic systems). Similarly, in the {{w|Chinese character}} writing system, many of the elements have pictographic or ideographic origins; but they are often, and even usually combined in ways that are phonetic and not related to the pictures that were the origins of the characters.
+{{w|Egyptian hieroglyphics}} contain many pictorial elements, some of which are pictographic in the sense that they are meant to represent the thing that they picture, but many are more abstract (ideographic) or are used for their {{w|phonetic}} value (as "A" was used in early alphabetic systems). Similarly, in the {{w|Chinese character}} writing system, many of the elements have pictographic or ideographic origins; but they are often, and even usually, combined in ways that are phonetic and not related to the pictures that were the origins of the characters.
 Early modern English (think Shakespeare or the {{w|King_James_Version|KJV}} Bible) used more forms for the tenses than we do today, which can help illustrate the trend away from inflected forms. In contrast, verbs in English today are often conjugated with auxiliary verbs. See below for details on [[#Modern verb conjugation in English|modern verb conjugation in English]].

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-While walking, [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that in {{w|inflected languages}} — such as {{w|German language|German}} — changes in the spelling of a word changes its meaning, in a predictable way. Megan exemplifies this with how {{w|plural}} forms of {{w|nouns}} are created by sticking an "s" at the end, and {{w|past tense}} of a {{w|verb}} is done by the suffix "ed". Megan then explains that this works well in {{w|languages}} which build on {{w|alphabets}}.
+While walking, [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that in {{w|inflected languages}}—such as {{w|German language|German}}—changes to a word change its meaning, in a predictable way. Megan exemplifies this with how {{w|plural}} forms of {{w|nouns}} are created by sticking an "s" at the end, and {{w|past tense}} of a {{w|verb}} is done by the suffix "ed". Megan then explains that this works well in {{w|languages}} which build on {{w|alphabets}}.
-She continues to explain that their {{w|Indo-European languages|language family}} belongs to those that are inflected, but the {{w|Modern English|English branch}} is becoming less inflected than it used to be. Specifically this explains why English does not have so many {{w|Latin conjugations}}. A conjugation is a pattern of inflections, describing how a particular group of verbs is altered from its root form to represent different grammatical cases. Only verbs have conjugations (are ''conjugated''), nouns, pronouns, and adjectives are described by declensions (and are ''declined''). All inflected languages can be described by conjugations and declensions, although Latin is one of the most commonly cited, perhaps because Latin grammar was taught for centuries by monotonous rote learning of the conjugations and declensions.
+She continues to explain that their {{w|Indo-European languages|language family}} belongs to those that are inflected, but the {{w|Modern English|English branch}} is becoming less inflected than it used to be. Specifically this explains why English does not have so many conjugations as {{w|Latin conjugations|Latin}}. A conjugation is a pattern of inflections, describing how a particular group of verbs is altered from its root form to represent different grammatical cases. Only verbs have conjugations (are ''conjugated''); nouns, pronouns, and adjectives are described by declensions (and are ''declined''). All inflected languages can be described by conjugations and declensions, although Latin is one of the most commonly cited, perhaps because Latin grammar was taught for centuries by monotonous rote learning of the conjugations and declensions.
-A typical Latin conjugation would be the verb '''amare''', to love.
+A part of a typical Latin conjugation would be the verb ''amare'' ‘to love’:
 {|
@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 |-
 ! 1st person
-! 'amo'
+! 'amō'
 ! ''I love''
+!
-! 'amamus'
+! 'amāmus'
 ! ''we love''
 |-
 ! 2nd person
-! 'amas'
+! 'amās'
 ! ''thou lovest''
+!
-! 'amatis'
+! 'amātis'
-! ''you love''
+! ''ye love''
 |-
 ! 3rd person
@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 |}
 {|
-! Perfect, Passive, Subjunctive
+! Present, Passive, Subjunctive
 |-
+!
@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 |-
 ! 1st person
-! 'amemor'
+! 'amor'
 ! ''I should be loved''
+!
-! 'amemur'
+! 'amēmur'
 ! ''we should be loved''
 |-
 ! 2nd person
-! 'amemaris'
+! 'amēris'
-! ''thou should be loved''
+! ''thou shouldst be loved''
+!
-! 'amemini'
+! 'amēminī'
-! ''you should be loved''
+! ''ye should be loved''
 |-
 ! 3rd person
-! 'ametur'
+! 'amētur'
 ! ''he/she/it should be loved''
+!
@@ Line 91: / Line 91: @@
+|
 |}
-(The English singular uses archaic forms to highlight the number and person.)  A complete conjugation includes all tenses (Present, Imperfect, Future, Perfect, Pluperfect, and Puture Perfect), both voices (Active & Passive), and all moods (Indicative, Imperative, Subjunctive). Other parts of speech — infinitives, participles, gerunds, and so forth — are needed to completely define the verb, but are not usually considered to be part of the conjugation.
+(The English singular uses archaic forms to highlight the number and person.)  A complete conjugation includes all tenses (Present, Imperfect, Future, Perfect, Pluperfect, and Puture Perfect), both voices (Active, Passive), and all moods (Indicative, Imperative, Subjunctive). Other parts of speech—infinitives, participles, gerunds, and so forth—are needed to completely define the verb, but are not usually considered to be part of the conjugation.
-Cueball then asks ''Could that mean that English writing might be ripe to become more pictographic?'' Instead of using traditional words, Megan replies with three {{w|emojis}} "Thumbs up" (like), "Applause", and a smiley — thus showing a pictographic version of the writing which has become more popular in the last years. Emoji has become a [[:Category:Emoji|recurring theme]] on xkcd.
+Cueball then asks ''Could that mean that English writing might be ripe to become more pictographic?'' Instead of using traditional words, Megan replies with three {{w|emojis}} "Thumbs up" (like), "Applause", and a smiley—thus showing a pictographic version of the writing which has become more popular in the last years. Emoji has become a [[:Category:Emoji|recurring theme]] on xkcd.
 The writing systems of many languages have both {{w|pictographic}} and {{w|ideographic}} origins. "Pictographic" means that they are pictures of some thing that will remind the reader of either the pronunciation or the meaning of the word. The letter "A", for example, originated from a word meaning "ox", but was meant to remind readers of the glottal stop (it wasn't until the Ancient Greeks, who didn't have the glottal stop as a distinct phoneme, got a hold of the Phoenician version that it was transferred to the vowel(s) it is today). "Ideographic" means that they are designed, through pictures, to illustrate some idea. An example would be a "No Smoking" sign, where a red circle with a diagonal line is an abstract representation of "no". In fact, the three emojis used in the third panel of this cartoon are all ideographic, not pictographic, under this definition. "Thumbs up" (like), "Applause", and the smiley, are all emojis that remind us of a concept of approval.
@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 The title text points out that some intentional misspelling are used in Internet slang to alter the meaning of a word: "what" becomes "[https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wat wat]" to [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/wat express] confusion, disgust or disbelief. The title text also uses typographical variation to emphasize the word MORE by using all capital letters. Such emphasis is difficult to show with inflected language alone.
-This comic is referenced at 4500 BCE in huge chart of [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]. According to that comic it was at that time inflection was invented but just to tease future students so they have to remember a [[#Modern verb conjugation in English|zillion verb endings]].
+This comic is referenced at 4500&nbsp;BCE in huge chart of [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]. According to that comic it was at that time inflection was invented but just to tease future students so they have to remember a [[#Modern verb conjugation in English|zillion verb endings]].
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 ! ''they love''
 |-
 |}
+{|
-(The English singular uses archaic forms to highlight the number and person.)  A complete conjugation includes all tenses (Present, Imperfect, Future, ...), both voices (Active & Passive), and all moods (Indicative, Imperative, Subjunctive, ...). Other parts of speech — infinitives, participles, gerunds, and so forth — are needed to completely define the verb, but are not usually considered to be part of the conjugation.
+! Perfect, Passive, Subjunctive
 Cueball then asks ''Could that mean that English writing might be ripe to become more pictographic?'' Instead of using traditional words, Megan replies with three {{w|emojis}} "Thumbs up" (like), "Applause", and a smiley — thus showing a pictographic version of the writing which has become more popular in the last years. Emoji has become a [[:Category:Emoji|recurring theme]] on xkcd.

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-⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀<br>
+{{comic
 | number    = 1709
 | date      = July 20, 2016

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-{{comic
+⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀<br>
 | number    = 1709
 | date      = July 20, 2016