JREF Forum - View Single Post - The Girl with "X-ray" vision

Julio Siqueira · 17th January 2006, 06:02 AM

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Skolnick, the Phony Journalist...

Usually we expect that true journalists have some command of the languages they write, especially if they claim to be native speakers. Surprisingly enough, Skolnick seems to be the exception to this rule...

It seems that, in the documentary about Natasha Demkina (Discovery Channel), the translator said (translating Natasha's words) a phrase with a structure and meaning similar to the one below:

"If you did it my way, I would have guessed right."

It seems (seems!) that I understood it wrong, and I rephrased it as below:

"If you did it my way, I would guess right."

It is clear in the documentary that Natasha was saying this BEFORE the beginning of the test. To try to protect his pseudoskeptic peer Wiseman from the inevitable charges of having swindled Natasha to accept the test with misleading reasoning, Skolnick decided to take the hard road: he himself is repeatedly trying to swindle this forum into believing that Natasha actually said this phrase above AFTER the test. To back up this masquerade, he presented the piece below

Quote:

To falsely attack my credibility and to support his argument that Natasha Demkina said this before the test began and not later during the test, Siqueira maliciously altered the quote. He tried to transform this clearly past-tense sentence into the future tense by deleting the helping verb "have" and changing "guessed" into "guess" (while neglecting to change the past-tense "did" into "would do"!).

What Skolnick is saying is that, in order for Natasha to have uttered that sentence BEFORE the test, the structure of the phrase should be as follows:

"If you would do it my way, I would guess right." (most likely, this structure doesn't even exist in the English language... Except in K Lumbia University, of course...

).

So, giving Skolnick a second lesson in the English language, and hoping that this time he learns it, I quote from the link below, where some basic information regarding the structure and meaning of these conditional sentences can be found

http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blconditionals.htm

Conditional 2 - examples:

- If he studied more, he would pass the exam.

- I would lower taxes if I were the President.

- They would buy a new house if they had more money.

- If you did it my way, I would guess right. (this example is provided by me, Julio)

Often called the "unreal" conditional because it is used for unreal - impossible or improbable - situations. This conditional provides an imaginary result for a given situation. The verb 'to be', when used in the 2nd conditional, is always conjugated as 'were'.

So, this is the true structure that the translator should have used: "If you did it my way, I would guess right." Weirdly enough, she inserted in the sentence a "have" (I would have guessed right). Most likely it is only a schwa (a schwa is a sound like the last vowel in the word "America" - please look up schwa in Webster's dictionary, or any other good one), or just a mistake from the translator, so common in spoken language.

However, if Natasha indeed had said the phrase AFTER the test, it should follow the structure below:

Conditional 3 - examples:

- If he had known that, he would have decided differently.

- Jane would have found a new job if she had stayed in Boston.

- If you had done it my way, I would have guessed right. (this example is provided by me, Julio).
Often referred to as the "past" conditional because it concerns only past situations with hypothetical results. Used to express a hypothetical result to a past given situation.

So, if Skolnick is right and Natasha was really saying that AFTER the test, the translator should have said it: "If you had done it my way, I would have guessed right."[/b] She did not say it... Most likely, therefore, the translator either committed a mistake or merely inserted a meaningless schwa into the phrase.

And what about Skolnick's weird phrase?...

Try as I might, I have been unable so far to find Skolnick's K Lumbia-English-dialect structure phrase: "If you would do it my way, I would guess right." Therefore, I would greatly appreciate if any forum member could help Skolnick get out of this extremely embarrassing situation that he got himself into...

17th January 2006, 06:02 AM	#844
Julio Siqueira Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 95	The Girl with "X-ray" vision - - Skolnick, the Phony Journalist... Usually we expect that true journalists have some command of the languages they write, especially if they claim to be native speakers. Surprisingly enough, Skolnick seems to be the exception to this rule... It seems that, in the documentary about Natasha Demkina (Discovery Channel), the translator said (translating Natasha's words) a phrase with a structure and meaning similar to the one below: "If you did it my way, I would have guessed right." It seems (seems!) that I understood it wrong, and I rephrased it as below: "If you did it my way, I would guess right." It is clear in the documentary that Natasha was saying this BEFORE the beginning of the test. To try to protect his pseudoskeptic peer Wiseman from the inevitable charges of having swindled Natasha to accept the test with misleading reasoning, Skolnick decided to take the hard road: he himself is repeatedly trying to swindle this forum into believing that Natasha actually said this phrase above AFTER the test. To back up this masquerade, he presented the piece below Quote: To falsely attack my credibility and to support his argument that Natasha Demkina said this before the test began and not later during the test, Siqueira maliciously altered the quote. He tried to transform this clearly past-tense sentence into the future tense by deleting the helping verb "have" and changing "guessed" into "guess" (while neglecting to change the past-tense "did" into "would do"!). What Skolnick is saying is that, in order for Natasha to have uttered that sentence BEFORE the test, the structure of the phrase should be as follows: "If you would do it my way, I would guess right." (most likely, this structure doesn't even exist in the English language... Except in K Lumbia University, of course... ). So, giving Skolnick a second lesson in the English language, and hoping that this time he learns it, I quote from the link below, where some basic information regarding the structure and meaning of these conditional sentences can be found http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blconditionals.htm Conditional 2 - examples: - If he studied more, he would pass the exam. - I would lower taxes if I were the President. - They would buy a new house if they had more money. - If you did it my way, I would guess right. (this example is provided by me, Julio) Often called the "unreal" conditional because it is used for unreal - impossible or improbable - situations. This conditional provides an imaginary result for a given situation. The verb 'to be', when used in the 2nd conditional, is always conjugated as 'were'. So, this is the true structure that the translator should have used: "If you did it my way, I would guess right." Weirdly enough, she inserted in the sentence a "have" (I would have guessed right). Most likely it is only a schwa (a schwa is a sound like the last vowel in the word "America" - please look up schwa in Webster's dictionary, or any other good one), or just a mistake from the translator, so common in spoken language. However, if Natasha indeed had said the phrase AFTER the test, it should follow the structure below: Conditional 3 - examples: - If he had known that, he would have decided differently. - Jane would have found a new job if she had stayed in Boston. - If you had done it my way, I would have guessed right. (this example is provided by me, Julio). Often referred to as the "past" conditional because it concerns only past situations with hypothetical results. Used to express a hypothetical result to a past given situation. So, if Skolnick is right and Natasha was really saying that AFTER the test, the translator should have said it: "If you had done it my way, I would have guessed right."[/b] She did not say it... Most likely, therefore, the translator either committed a mistake or merely inserted a meaningless schwa into the phrase. And what about Skolnick's weird phrase?... Try as I might, I have been unable so far to find Skolnick's K Lumbia-English-dialect structure phrase: "If you would do it my way, I would guess right." Therefore, I would greatly appreciate if any forum member could help Skolnick get out of this extremely embarrassing situation that he got himself into...
Julio Siqueira Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 95