Silversun

This is a thread where you can ask questions about spelling/grammar/usage, or just general facts you need to research for your writing. Old thread here.

Silversun

God, Latin abbreviations driving me up the wall. Could anyone tell me what et seq., infra. means?

kaykayelle

I wish I took some Latin. It seems like fun, and useful, too.

Sorry, I can't help you. I'm just jealous over anyone who can.

Doublestuf

Well I took some Latin and I'm at a loss.

However, I also took an hour long session on how to research on the internet waaaaay back my first year of college - it was required, the bastards.

But, it paid off! Et. seq. = and the following pages and infra. = below

Silversun

Phew. Thanks for that Doublestuf. And thank you for trying kaykayelle.

kaykayelle

I have a grammar question. Actually, I don't think it's exactly grammar. :shrugs: Maybe.

Anyway, if you wanted to refer to the week that just happened, would you say this passed week, or this past week? That's bugged me for so long, but I always just went with passed because it seemed to be more correct than past in my head.

Doublestuf

Not that I'm grammar queen by any means, but I've only ever seen it as "past," which makes sense in my head. You would say this current week or next week, so past seems to make sense as an adj... Okay I realize my little explanation makes no sense, but that's what I know. Past, the only way I'm aware of seeing it.

kaykayelle

That's true. I bet it is "past" then. OK. Thanks for the help.

Catalinay

I believe it's "past" as well, but I can't think of a good way to explain why.

Chiqa

It's definitely "past."

The difference is:
"The week passed by so quickly"
"This past week, time flew by so quickly."

Silversun

A bit late now, but I also have to say it's definitely past. That's an adjective(?) whereas the other is just a past-tense verb. Or maybe not, I'm not so good with the technical labellings of language-y stuff. I know I'm right on instinct for this one, though.

Silversun

Here in New Zealand where we want to bet on horses or sports, we go to the T.A.B. (which stands for [something] Agency of Betting, I think). What is the equivalent in the US?

Crossbow

Good question. You go to a bookie, but that's illegal. I don't know what the legal way to do it is.

EtA:

I googled US Betting, but all the sites are blocked by my firewall. It might be entirely illegal, for all I know.

Silversun

Really? So it's entirely illegal to bet on horses and stuff in America?

kaykayelle

You can bet on horses, but I'm pretty sure you have to go to a track to do that. If you want to bet on sports, you have to go to specific spots. I know sports betting is illegal in my state. If you have the setting for your story, you might want to google something like "New Jersey gambling laws" or something like that. That might help you out more than I can.

(You can bet on a lot of things in Vegas as far as I know. They were betting on the Friends finale, they bet on The Oscars, they bet on everything over there. All of those gambling guys are alwasy on the news the day before an event to give the odds- at least on the economy-centric news that I watch.)