Grammartalk 17. Embedded (included) Questions.

"Studio with Plaster Head" by Pablo Picasso

1.
A: I'm trying to find the man who robbed the bank. Can you tell me what he looks like?
B: I'm sorry. I don't know what he looks like. I didn't see his face.
A: Did you see his car? Do you remember the color of the car and the make?
B: I believe it was a Ford, but I'm not sure what color it was. It might have been blue.
A: I would be really helpful if you knew the license number of the car.
B: No. I definitely couldn't tell you what the license number was.

2.
A: I don't know much about our parents' lives before we were born. Do you?
B: I'm only two years older than you. I don't know much about them either.
A: Do you by any chance know when they were married?
B: I have no idea when they were married. It might have been fifteen years ago or even 20 years ago.
A: Do you know where they lived before they moved to Newport?
B: They told me once, but I forgot where they used to live. It might have been New York City, but I'm not sure.

3.
A: Alan Fisher is doing a great job for the company. How long has he worked here?
B: You know, I have no idea how long he's been working here.
A: Has he always worked at that desk? Or, has he worked at another desk?
B: I'm not sure if he's always worked at that desk or not. He might have worked at the one next to the water cooler.
A: Did he use to bring his lunch to work or has he always gone to the corner for lunch?
B: Steve Parker can tell you if Allan has always eaten lunch at the restaurant on the corner or not. Why don't you ask Steve?

4.
A: Could you please tell me what time the concert begins?
B: I believe it begins at 8:00 PM, but I'm not sure when it ends.
A: Do you happen to know if there is parking near the concert hall?
B: You can park in the garage, but it's quite expensive. If I were you, I'd arrive early and try to find a parking space on the street.
A: Is there a good restaurant near the concert hall?
B: I don't know if there are any good restaurants nearby or not. I've never been to a restaurant in that neighborhood.

5.
A: I'm calling about the apartment at 379 Sanchez Street. Can you tell me if it's been rented or not?
B: Not yet. But a lot of people have called. Would you like to see it?
A: I'd like to ask you a couple of questions first, if that's okay.
B: Sure. I don't know if I can answer all your questions, but I'll do my best.
A: I understand it's a fourth floor apartment. I'd like to know if there are any elevators.
B: Yes, in fact, the building has two elevators. But I believe one of them is broken.
A: Do you know if the apartment has a modern kitchen?
B: I'm pretty sure the kitchen is modern. There's a problem with the garbage disposal, but they're going to fix it next week.

6.
A: Grandma, when did you learn to knit?
B: I can't remember when I learned to knit. It was a long time ago.
A: Why doesn't mother like to knit?
B: I don't know why she doesn't like to knit. You'll have to ask her.
A: Grandma, I've been thinking. Why do elephants have long ears?
B: I have no idea why elephants have long ears. You'll have to consult the encyclopedia.

Sand and Stone

This story tells of two friends walking through the desert. During some point of the journey,
they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the Sand:
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath.

The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning,
but the friend saved him.
After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you,
you wrote in the sand, and now, you write on a stone. Why?"

The other friend replied, "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand,
where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. When someone does something good for us,
we must engrave it in stone, where no wind can ever erase it."

"Learn to write Your Hurts in Sand, and to carve Your Benefits in Stone".

Have a seat at the console

. . . of the largest pipe organ in the world. Thanks to the magic of computer technology, you can click the picture above and get a personal view of what it looks like to sit at the console of the municipal organ of the Atlantic City Convention Hall.

The organ's console is the biggest in the world. It has 1,235 stop tabs controlling 587 flue stops, 265 reed stops, 35 melodic percussions, 46 non-melodic percussions, 164 couplers, 18 tremolos, and 120 swell pedal selectors for the 7 swell pedals controlling 15 swell boxes. Officially, that comes to 33,114 pipes. The console is also the only one in the world with 7 manuals, of which the lower ones have been extended to 6 and even 7 octaves, opposed to the normal 5.

The Main Auditorium is a truly vast space (488 feet long, 288 feet wide, and 137 feet high, which comes to over 15 million cubic feet of space). To fill the place with sound, Emerson Richards designed an organ with some mind-boggling and previously unheard of specifications. These include ten 32-foot stops, a 64-foot stop (one of only two in the world), 10 stops on 50-inch wind pressure (most organ pipes are about 10-inch wind pressure) and four on 100 inches (a pressure not employed in any other organ).

The 100-inch stops are: Grand Ophicleide 16-8; Tuba Imperial 8, Tuba Maxima 8-4; Trumpet Mirabilis 16-8-4. They had to be specially designed so as to not turn into projectiles when played. The loudest of these, the Ophicleide produces 130 dB at 1 metre distance. Needless to say, it is recognized by Guiness as the loudest organ stop in the world.

An experiment was carried out in the 1950s when most of the organ was working. Everything was coupled to the Great, and when played, the ice cracked in the hockey floor of the hall and the organ could be heard (and felt) outside along the boardwalk nearly 1000 feet away from the organ console.

Unfortunately, the organ has fallen into a state of disrepair over recent decades, leaving it only partially playable. The Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society is working hard to preserve and restore this historic instrument. Have a look at their video below.