Subject: English language - discussions

Thanks guys, one more question :)

Is it possible to say:

I was smitten with his diligence.

...or does smitten come only when one talks about the electric current?

smitten is normally only used in romance!

he was smitten by her
for instance

so "I was smitten with his diligence" implies you fancy him due to his hard working nature

Vancian is right. Smitten means basically being so overawed with something that you fall in love with the person doing the something.

What the hell is the electric current thing? As in, "I threw the electric fire into his bathtub and smittened his arse to hell!"?

Then it was highly advisable for me to ask that one! Thanks guys :)

As for the electricc current, yup :p

"Then it was highly advisable for me to ask that one!"
That sounds wrong. Advice is something you usually get before doing some action, so saying after the deed was done that it was "highly advisable" for you, sounds wrong. You might be literally translating this from Polish. Perhaps one of the English lads here can help with this...

Well I'm not sure whether it's correct, you might be right that it's not.
As for literally translating, that's not it - since about 3 years I've managed to reach the level of thinking in English, although I switch to 'translation' type when writing some more complicated things that require the usage of a dictionary, it's easier this way. :)

About this particular sentence...well I haven't slept too much today, so it's hard to track my ways of thinking back then when I was writing the sentence, though I'd go with something like this:

It was advisable for me back then to make that question.

No idea if it's a proper one though, you're right that it does not seem or sound proper enough :)

Also, what's the deal with hence/thence and henceforth/thenceforth? Is it the same or what's the difference? I haven't seen 'thence' in my whole life till today, and I was sure that it was just a misprint, it seems though that there is such a word!

/also excuse the level of my English, but I'm brain-exhausted after spending last couple of days in the library while reading enthralling books like "How to use words?", "101 English idioms that will make you blablabla", "How to combine words" etc. and I actually feel even more dumb than before :-)

Help, anyone?

help means assistance.

It was advisable for me back then to make that question.

it would be better to write:

It was advisable for me to pose(or ask) the question.

The back bit is superfluous as the "was" already tells you it was in the past and without explaining it and just using the "question" implies that you are talking about the question immediately prior to this sentence.

Thanks for clearing this one up :)

that should be, "thanks for clearing that one up"

;-)

that was my first thought right after clicking the 'send' button, but I was too lazy to correct it :p

Also, what's the deal with hence/thence and henceforth/thenceforth? Is it the same or what's the difference? I haven't seen 'thence' in my whole life till today, and I was sure that it was just a misprint, it seems though that there is such a word!

Hence is a showy way of saying 'therefore' or 'from now'.
Henceforth means 'from now on' and is not totally unusual

thence is truly obsolete, it means 'from there' in the bible
thenceforth apparently means 'from that time on'

The very well educated and intelligent might know what thenceforth means but the wise know that using it makes you an idiot. A bit like using 'whom' properly

lol

I use hence, thence, henceforth, thenceforth and whom! ;-)
(edited)

I wondered if you would say that! Whom does serve a purpose - but only to tell you something about the user.

hence and henceforth are useful words of course

They use it a lot more in Scotland I have noticed but then the Scots always seemed to have a better general education when it came to the 3 R's...