burak sengir (asker) Oct 26, 2010:

Much appreciated Lianne...In future (which is probably soon :) I shall follow the 'golden rule' and provide the sufficient context for my queries.

Lianne van de Ven Oct 26, 2010:

Well... Burak... then we are actually hitting the hammer on the nail, because also in your 'simple' case it is really useful. It is my own experience as an asker that I am concerned to provide too much context and 'bore' others with my 'blah blah', so I try to 'keep it simple'. This may not apply to you, but as an answerer of questions, I find that, no matter what the question, those 5 lines or sentences are a good guideline 'to get in the mood'. It may be confusing when someone is all wrapped up in a text on woodstoves and someone asks about Romeinse haarden, for example. I have, btw, enjoyed your questions on the forum so far! ;-)

burak sengir (asker) Oct 26, 2010:

I do too feel like the 'spuit elf' even though I am the 'asker', and I do agree that 4 or 5 lines of context will usually be the most helpful, but then again in this case my query was merely meant to find out what 'haarden' stood for really.

Lianne van de Ven Oct 26, 2010:

Context I am probably 'spuit 11' (spuit elf) but I'd like to say as well that I do agree that it is usually helpful to have at least 5 lines/sentences of context.

Lianne van de Ven Oct 26, 2010:

?? What are you saying Phil? You put a neutral with Ron's answer... Why don't you vote for mine then?

philgoddard Oct 25, 2010:

Since the context as originally given made no sense, neither does my answer. Ron's is better.

burak sengir (asker) Oct 25, 2010:

I should consider myself lucky :) because the others did try and were able to help me out with my query, without having to know what the preceding sentence was. And thanks for warning me.

Kitty Brussaard Oct 25, 2010:

Ze? Your information still doesn't give me a clear picture of what the personal pronoun 'Ze' in 'Ze waren haarden van (....) refers to. Obviously, you would have to post the preceding sentence as well.

burak sengir (asker) Oct 25, 2010:

the first sentence I had posted was meant to be the 'source sentence' I became aware of the misquote: 'Romeinen' instead of 'ze', so I posted the second sentence, but then the discussion was already led astray, though it has been quite informative.

Kitty Brussaard Oct 25, 2010:

Full sentence It would have been helpful if you had posted the entire source sentence, including the first part of the sentence.

burak sengir (asker) Oct 25, 2010:

Sorry not the Romans: "Daarom hadden de Romeinen zelden waterspoeling in hun toiletten en werden latrines, die in de regel dicht bij keukens lagen, op gezette tijden leeggeschept." Then the 'sources' ought to be 'their toilets, latrines near to the kitchen area' etc.
and thank you :)