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1Likes- 11-Jan-2012, 01:17 #1
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"then" or "the"... "Self-Reliance" (Ralph Waldo Emerson):
"Great works [...] teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side."
1. So with what actually sort of inflexibility should we abide by our spontaneous impression...? ("good humored")
2. And then in any way I couldn't come to terms with this "then". The only idea which came across my mind was that it was a typo of "the"... Am I crazy or a genius...?
- 11-Jan-2012, 11:49 #2
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Teacher Re: "then" or "the"... I suspect that if he were to write that today, he might replace 'then most when' with 'precisely at a time when..."
Originally Posted by szaroczek 
Don't tempt me!Am I crazy or a genius...? Context is always important; labelling is rarely important.
- 11-Jan-2012, 18:21 #3
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Threadstarter / Original Poster Re: "then" or "the"... Ok. I won't 'cause I feel it would be probably towards "I'm... a GENIUS!!!" and few of my kindred and my acquaintances would get a little bit... confused. Originally Posted by 5jj "Don't tempt me!
But again how about "good humored inflexibility"? A "Humored" is, I think, sort of PP of the verb "humor" (first encountered in my life in that form 
) which, according to my dictionary means: "give way to sb." or "indulge". So all together...? 
- 11-Jan-2012, 18:23 #4
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Teacher Re: "then" or "the"... Context is always important; labelling is rarely important.
- 11-Jan-2012, 18:42 #5
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Threadstarter / Original Poster Re: "then" or "the"... You are embarrassing me, man.
whilst I was supposed to be a genius... But thanks anyway. 
- 11-Jan-2012, 19:01 #6
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Teacher Re: "then" or "the"... In AmE, it's pretty ordinary to call a chap "man" but all my British teachers at the International School of Brussels found it offensive when the Americans did so....
- 11-Jan-2012, 19:16 #7
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Threadstarter / Original Poster Re: "then" or "the"... Got the massage...
- 11-Jan-2012, 19:24 #8
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Teacher Re: "then" or "the"... It's pretty much like using "tu" or "du."
- 11-Jan-2012, 20:38 #9
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Threadstarter / Original Poster Re: "then" or "the"... ...?
- 11-Jan-2012, 22:09 #10
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Re: "then" or "the"... It seems to be a bit of a problem in English. So many completely incongruent patterns of decorum -- how can a learner know what to say? I remember being called a "young N-word" by a person who wanted to thank me for help here. It made me smile because I knew the person meant no harm, but ingenuousness may not be appreciated by all. Originally Posted by konungursvia
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