From Newsgroup: sci.lang
On 29/11/2025 11:00 a.m., Tony Cooper wrote:
On Sat, 29 Nov 2025 08:42:09 +1300, Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz>
wrote:
On 29/11/2025 6:06 a.m., HenHanna@NewsGrouper wrote:
I played this Sudoku until it was available at
https://www.brainbashers.com/bbtesters.asp but since yesterday
afternoon the page changed
____________________
Since the above text is not quite grammatically correct, I gave it to my AI >>> to see if it can explain its peculiarity (or characteristic usage pattern). >>>
My AI insists that it is grammatical and idiomatic, etc.
For example, it says:
---------- This usage shows strong command of English temporality, not a literal Italian-influenced error (e.g., finch|- directly translating to "until" fits naturally here).
Very puzzling!
Who cares what "your" AI says? What do "you" find not quite
grammatically correct?
The only possible grammatical fault I would find is that I would say
"has changed" at the end. Usage of the perfect tense in English is
tricky. Americans seem to use it less than the rest of us, so maybe this
is an Americanism. Or maybe an Italianism.
But the first clause is a little puzzling. I wouldn't use "play" as the
word for what you do to a Sudoku. They're puzzles, so "work on" or
"solve" might be better.
It's probably not grammatical, but I would say "I did the Sudoku".
Nothing wrong with that grammatically. We're really just talking about
lexical choices, and I didn't mean to suggest that mine was definitive.
I
do "play" Scrabble online, because it's interactive. What the
computer opponent can affect what I do next.
Interesting distinction. I think I would agree.
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