Item — HN Reader

On the off chance you're serious (and I know folks sometimes have a hard time differentiating between very subtle sarcasm and true newbiehood):

You are being directed to go to Google (or other search engine of choice) and enter the phrase "Cone of Learning".

You should get a result similar to the following: http://www.google.com/search?q=cone+of+learning&ie=utf-8...

2 comments

To be fair it is possible to parse google as a noun in that sentence. It reads a bit like an item in an RPG.

Google Cone of Haste +3

> Google Cone of Haste +3

Parsing it as a verb, I followed your instructions and this comment is already the top hit for "Cone of Haste" on Google.

Ironically, this is somewhat related to the "grammar & writing style" debate raging in another thread on this very post. If the root poster had written:

    Google "Cone of Learning"

It would not have been so ambiguous!

Actually that's how I read it too - even though being told to "google" something is by no means new to me.

The google cone of haste, I like that.

Precisely.

by the way, this is what kills me in English language. How can you tell the verb from the noun? Or in some cases the adjective from the noun? Or how can you figure out the relationship between the verb and the attached passive noun without the grammatical case mechanism?

I understand the way it works in English intellectually but not too comfortable with all these ambiguities intuitively.