Time  Nick        Message
14:26 Krock       "it starts to fall" vs "it begins to fall". Native English speakers: which one is correct?
14:26 VanessaE    neither
14:26 VanessaE    most likely you want "it starts/begins falling"
14:27 VanessaE    though both versions you said *are* grammatically correct, just less used
14:27 Krock       so present continuous when begins/starts/ends is used?
14:27 Krock       ah I see. thanks
14:28 VanessaE    it kinda depends on what's happening throughout the fall
14:28 Krock       well. It's just about matter of fact that it'll fall in a given condition. Context: https://github.com/minetest/minetest/pull/9453/files#diff-42fcd75bc8a678836ae196a3956c93a7R7
14:29 VanessaE    "starts/beging to fall" kinda talks about that initial moment when something topples past the point where it could settle back into place; "starts/begins falling" more or less talks about just *after* that point
14:29 VanessaE    make sense?
14:30 Krock       falling = definitive falling, fall = might fall
14:30 VanessaE    that ^ one can go either day :)
14:30 VanessaE    way*
14:31 VanessaE    now that I've muddied the waters a little... :)
14:31 Krock       uuh *prepares*
14:32 * VanessaE  sits back and eats chocolate :)
14:34 VanessaE    *munch* don't you just *mmf* love English?  *smack*
14:34 Krock       I thought you'd eat with the mouth, not the fingers. Not sure who of us two does it wrong
14:35 VanessaE    heh
14:35 VanessaE    well it's not like I'm lapping it up from the package like a dog :)
14:35 VanessaE    some languages borrow from other languages.  English follows others down dark alleys, beats them senseless, then rifles through their pockets for new vocabulary.
14:42 freelikegnu I like "it starts to fall"  I picture it as from just before it falls up to the act of "falling". "It starts falling" is a picture of something when I have missed the cause of the effect.
14:42 VanessaE    see? it works either way :)
14:43 VanessaE    (though I won't usually call something "falling" until it finally loses contact with whatever it was on/hanging from)
14:43 freelikegnu my code starts to fail when my mind begins failing
14:43 VanessaE    my code never fails ;)
14:44 VanessaE    (just like My Servers Never Lag™)
14:44 freelikegnu seems like one is just begging for entropy with such statement
14:44 VanessaE    heh
14:45 freelikegnu I am superstitious
15:18 Krock       your code cannot fail if you don't have any code *big brain*