F.Gulda

"the direction of his hand, whereby he learns to write, shall be answerable to his reading"

"Restart the machine so the liquid inside is brought back to temperature."

Does this mean to bring the temperature of the liquid back to its original level (before the machine was stopped)?

On my English exam I was asked to make up a sentence using the expression "not necessarily", so I wrote:

"That team will not necessarily win the game tomorrow."

and got zero point for this. But I don't see why this isn't good. Could anyone explain why this isn't good?　"Animals do not necessarily lie down to sleep." was given as an example of a good answer.

"The industry does not embrace the new policy at any cost."

Does this mean the industry doesn't wouldn't accept or doesn't want the new policy?

"Parties stipulated to final judgment, which was entered on (date)."

Please explain in easy English. Thank you.

I'm looking for something that keeps me laughing out loud.

In conversatino practice, this French language teacher, who is in his 40s, keeps asking stupid questions like "When did you last buy a hooker?", "When you see porn, do you...?", "Did you take viagra this morning?" etc to this one particular student, the oldest student in the class who is over 70 years old.

The class is a small adult education class with four students, with a man in his 30s, a woman in her 60s (my mom), an old lady in her 70s, and an old man in his 70s. The French guy only and almost always asks these kind of questions to the oldest male student. Mom says the old male student ovbiously looks offended by these questions every time, but the French teacher either doesn't notice it, or he just ignores it, she isn't sure which, but he won't stop saying these things to the old guy.

The students are just beginners and can't say much in French. Besides, they are Japanese so they are basically quiet and won't protest or fight. But last time, the old man got so angry when he was asked "Did you take viagra this morning?" and said in Japanese in a small voice "I'm not going to answer such a rude question", and didn't answer. The class had an awkward silence, then the guy stood up and just left, and has never attended the class since then. Looks like he is quitting.

What I would like to know is, how would people other than Japanese think of the French teacher and his questions? As a Japanese, I think he is rude and the questions were stupid and unappropriate. The teacher is trying to be funny, but considering their ages, maybe it's not funny. I also think the students should have said something if they felt uncomfortable, then the teacher might have stopped harassing him, but I guess they couldn't...

What do you think? How would you have reacted if you were the student? Do you think the questions are okay and that the student is overreacting?

What is the most effective way? We have an indoor dog toilet (because she had hepatic encephalopathy at 2 months and had to go through a surgery so we couldn't really train her or even walk her until recently - she got over it a month ago) and at one time she seemed to have learned to use the toilet, but now she just goes wherever she wants. Accidents happen especially when we are around her. We can walk her now so we take her outside so she doesn't have to hold it for more than 3 hours, but she sometimes holds it until she comes back home. We also have a cage inside our house (not a crate) in which her bed and her toilet are placed. We put her in the cage when we think she should go to the toilet, or when we can't watch her (she also eats literally anything so it is necessary), or when she sleeps at night. She even uses her bed as a toilet. (She also loves to eat her poop. We've been seriously trying to stop her by giving her treats, scolding her, giving her pills that are supposed to stop her from eating her poop, putting on mustard, but it seems like we have to give up on this.)

Anyway, I'm pretty sure we are not doing this right and we are just confusing her. The other dog we had before was easier to train so we had none of these problems. Please advise on how we should do this.

One English textbook says that it means "I expected to see her yesterday, but I couldn't."

I expected to have done (something). = I expected to do (something) but I couldn't.

I want to make sure if this is correct. Is this correct? How common is this "expected to have done" expression, and if it's not so common what's the best way to say it?

instead of smaller and smallest? How common are they?

A few weeks after we got her she had severe epileptic seizures repeately and we thought we might lose her but after we started the treatment she got well and now she looks like a completely normal puppy. She is on special diet and given lactulose and antibiotics now. The vet says surgery might help but she probably won't live long with or without it (we are still waiting for the lab results). How long will she live? What are the possible things to happen?

For a welsh terrier, or a poodle, or any breed. Is that normal? What's the average price in your country?

$5,130 is a normal price for a pedigree puppy in Tokyo. They are kept in tiny boxes and shampooed every day so they don't smell like dogs...

Breeder told me she should stay in the cage all the time until she gets the second vaccine shot next year, but she seems frustrated in the small cage (it's about the size of a bathtub). Is it safe to let her out and run around the room?

The "most-previously obtained something"

Is it the oldest something or the newest something?

Just some guys in my school... They are not gay.

would you just be shocked, distressed?

wouldn't it piss you off?

My English textbook says when it refers to the act of praying it's pronounced [pre'ər] and when it refers to a person who prays it's pronounced [pre'iər].

Is this right? and do you pronounce them differently?

Thank you.

Which one is more common/correct?

He runs fastest among the three.

He funs the fastest among the three.

Should I put "the" in front?

How are these different?

I went for a date? I went on a date?

Ist "bin" auch richtig oder sollte ich "wurde" sagen?

Wenn "bin" nicht richtig ist, hat Johannes Rau einen grammatischen Fehler gemacht, als er "Ich bin 1931 geboren" in seiner Rede gesagt?

Wenn beide richtig sind, was ist der Unterschied?