📚｜english-questions

[buoyant thicket]

Yeah I was referring to that haha

Not a singular belief but the religion as a whole, not an opinion

I guess that might not be what the original poster meant, I'm used to writing like that when it's about old cultures

[trail ridge]

Fair enough 👍🏻

There is a belief in which tomatoes are vegetables ❌

Christianity is the belief in which Jesus is the son of god ✅

I think these are good examples

[buoyant thicket]

Yeah

[jovial plinth]

My bad for the unrelated reply but did I just see a fellow Arcaea player???

[steady summit]

Ayooo, used to play, but was too bad for the game and quit long ago😭

[jovial plinth]

Ah I see 😭 understandable

The charts are getting unhinged

[steady summit]

I had like a 9.7 points, then i saw songs like tempestissimo and said “ok im done”

[torpid stone]

Hello everyone, nice to meet you.
I have some issue, so I need original North American support.
if anyone want know about that, please send dm to me anytime.
I will accept anyone.

[flat rune]

Guys, I'm working on improving my pronunciation skills. Do you have any YouTube channels or websites you'd recommend? I'd also be grateful for any personal tips that have helped you

[buoyant thicket]

#🗒｜pronunciation #🗃｜resources

[alpine gyro]

Would this be d?

[cerulean thorn]

Yes

Wait

Nvm

Idk

[trail ridge]

Definitely C

D sounds very awkward

[boreal ingot]

Yea it's prolly C, if you wanted a second opinion

[reef badge]

Hello everybody
Looking for an English-speaking buddy from the USA—must enjoy chatting, laughing, and pretending my grammar mistakes are ‘creative expressions.

[trail ridge]

#📝｜introduction

[boreal ingot]

Ah, yes, learning by pretending you're already right; that indubitably is the most effective method of all

[verbal heron]

[signal shell]

We welcome your creativity

We can also correct it and make it boring, if you wish

[crystal hill]

You can watch a TV show and after listening to a sentence, practice saying the sentence and recording yourself with your mic on your phone. Then listen to your recording compared to the show, hope this helps.

[fiery swallow]

english called english cuz it came from England?

if it was from russia that would be russish?

[latent reef]

it would be called russian, it can sometimes go back to the origin of the countries name or just whatever sounds best out of, ish, ian, ese

[boreal ingot]

English is named after the Angles, a Germanic people

England is itself named after them

[fiery swallow]

strange

[cloud badge]

Germans and French kinda basically had a war and it caused the languages to mix too the point that it was a new thing, Anglo-Saxon German, aka English

[trail ridge]

English is pretty much a mix of almost everything 😂

Latin, Dutch, German, French, Spanish just to name a few

[boreal ingot]

What do Germans have to do with the evolution of English?

I would like to know

[cloud badge]

English is half Germanic

[boreal ingot]

Or wait do you mean Germanic peoples?

[cloud badge]

Yes

[boreal ingot]

Ohhh

[trail ridge]

‘Tis a Germanic language yeah

[boreal ingot]

Yea I know that much lol. I found it odd we'd say 'Germans' though

[cloud badge]

Germany is newer than the germanic ppl, i def over simplified but that's the basic gist of it

Blame the Romans haha

[bitter flower]

Is it Proto Germanic?

[cloud badge]

English is defined as Anglo-Saxon German, im not sure if that means protogermanic or what tho

[boreal ingot]

Yea it was like, Celts and Picts and whoever else are the native Britons, and we have the Gaelic ppl in Ireland. Then the Romans came. Then the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes came. Then the Romans came again and made them Christian. Then the Norsemen/vikings came. Then the Norman French came (the Normans being the French who mixed woth the Norsemen at some point lol)

[boreal ingot]

The -ic at the end is pretty important. Calling it German is kinda misleading

English is Germanic

[cloud badge]

Its not. It isnt Anglo saxon germanic. Its anglo saxon german.

[bitter flower]

Oh mb

[cloud badge]

The language is germanic. And it's called anglo-saxon german. At least how it started

No worries

[boreal ingot]

Okay, Old English is also called Anglo Saxon

It's not Anglo-Saxon German though

[cloud badge]

It is though

[boreal ingot]

It's not German girll

[cloud badge]

Tell that to my linguistics teachers

They will not agree with you

[trail ridge]

Just call it old English 👍🏻

[cloud badge]

Yes aka Anglo-saxon german haha

Same same

[boreal ingot]

You might have misinterpreted something they said, or they could be using terms particular to them, because generally Old English is called Anglo-Saxon. You could also say the 'Anglo-Saxon West Germanic dialect' maybe

[cloud badge]

You could also drop the west and the ic and you'd be talking about the same language. It's what itd be described as if you couldnt use English in the name

It's the form of german the anglo-saxons evolved from all their wars and forbidden romances across enemy lines and such.

No need to be nit picky it's just another word for what it is to explain where it came from and all

Anglo saxon is the people who influenced the language and the base language is German, that's the point of the distinction.

Don't get so caught up in semantics scella

Like saying french-canadian english, its anglo-saxon german.

I only have a minute to read your reply so if you want a response plz finish

This was taught to us in high school and college level old English where we read the canterbury tales and beowulf and other things in the original language alongside English and learned the history and all, i don't remember all the finer details but that was a very important distinction my teachers always pointed out. I need to leave now tho so good luck with the essay.

[boreal ingot]

Germanic and German refer to different things. German refers to the languages spoken in modern-day Germany. Those are Low German and High German. Low German is a North Sea Germanic language, like English and Frisian. The North Sea Germanic languages originate from the peninsula that makes up the continental part of modern-day Denmark and a part of northern Germany, Jutland. High German comes from two separate sub-branches of the West Germanic branch of the Germanic family. It's made up of Central and Upper German, which are farther away from English. We also have Standard High German.

When one says 'German', they are referring to the dialect continuum between these languages/dialects: Low German, Central German, Upper German. Or they are referring to the standard form, which was made from Central and Upper German.

When one says 'Germanic', they are referring to the whole language family that spans a great great area. West Germanic is a more specific subset. German (that being the three parts I just mentioned) was developing from Proto-West-Germanic on the continent as Anglo-Saxon was developing from North Sea dialects of Proto-West-Germanic on the island of Britain.

You're mixing up distinct terms is my point. I'm not trying to say you're misinforming on purpose or to attack your pride. All I'm saying is that Old English isn't German, but Germanic

[boreal ingot]

Read it whenever you have time. Tbh the whole point is that both what we call German and what we call English came from what we call Germanic. You're using the term German instead of Germanic, or maybe instead of West Germanic specifically, and really thas the only inaccuracy. English is the (West) Germanic of the intermingling Angles and Saxons, who are Germanic peoples. Iss really not worth the semantic ambiguity to drop that '-ic',

[cloud badge]

Anglo-saxon german is a germanic language. Im not using it wrong, youre misunderstanding my usage. Its not inaccurate. Its another word for English without using English to give context to how English formed.

[boreal ingot]

yeaa this is 100% a misusage English isn't German, but you're not going to be convinced so I'm not going to try further

[cloud badge]

If i said anglo-saxon germanic, id wonder germanic what. The ic implies youre describing something and you have to include what you're describing. The language. The german language that was shaped by the anglos and the saxons.

[cloud badge]

Its not a mississauge, English is not German. Its anglo-saxon german. You're missing the point and misconstruing my words to be able to argue so yes please stop because you don't seem to grasp the the nuance and i don't have time to explain more.

[boreal ingot]

I understand you don't really mean Old English is German, but regardless, no competent linguist would use 'German' like that, and to say 'Anglo-Saxon German' is misleading. The language's name is 'Anglo-Saxon'.

I'm not misconstruing your words; I'm pointing out your misusage

If you don't have time, feel free not to continue this. I likewise won't, now that I've clarified I'm not misconstruing with malintent

[verbal heron]

spare our damn lives

[signal shell]

hate to break it to you, but the languages Arabic and Icelandic end this way, and does not have the implication that you described for "Germanic"

technically, almost every language name has an identical noun and adjective form

english language can just be reduced to english

german language is just german

germanic language is just germanic

[cloud badge]

Its not a technical name its just a description and yall are taking it easy too seriously, i don't mean it the way you guys are saying

[flat rune]

When to use "I never do" and "I've never done"?

[cloud badge]

I never do is something you plan not to do now or in the future, or something you're not typically known for. Something that you probably could do but choose not to. I have never done means you never got the chance or never decided to do a certain thing but says nothing about weather you would or wouldnt.

[flat rune]

I never do is like my plan is never doing this, yeah?

[boreal ingot]

I never do [x] ~= it's not one of my habits to do [x]
It's more about your nature
I've never done [x] ~= there is no point in the past at which I did [x]
It's more about your past

[cloud badge]

Sort of, it indicates that you probably don't because you usually never do something. Probably for a reason. Like 'i never smoke cigarettes' i never do that because i thibk theyre unhealthy and plan to never smoke them for the same reason

[flat rune]

Ah... okok, understood

dankjewel

[boreal ingot]

It's not so much about plans as it is about what you normally are known for doing and not doing. It's not part of your habits to do that. It's not within your nature to do it.

I never play football. Why? I'm not a person who likes such rough sports.
I never eat pasta. Why? I don't like how pasta tastes.
It's more about who you are and how you normally act ^

[flat rune]

I know the reason. So I use I never do...
I don't know the reason. So I use I've never done

Yeah yeah, I understand them. But hard to explain, thanks

[boreal ingot]

Lovely

[torn spindle]

Today I found out that we shouldn't end our sentence with preposition. I was wrong all my life 😭😭

[gaunt mango]

interestingly enough, this comes from people trying to force the rules of latin onto english centuries ago. It's fine in modern english, don't stress about it.
"That's what I was talking about!"

[trail ridge]

@flat rune

Some examples for you.

Let’s say someone asks you if you drive without a seatbelt on:

You respond with:
“I never do that” -meaning you make conscious effort to always wear your seatbelt whenever you drive.

Or:
“I’ve never done that”
Meaning you’ve never driven without a seatbelt at any time in your life.

[acoustic geyser]

How do I distinguish those sentences?

• if I had prepared, I would prevent it
• if I prepared, I would have prevent it.

I'm learning mix conditionals right now but I'm confused about it.

[trail ridge]

Both of those sentences are grammatically incorrect

First sentence should be:
"If I had prepared, I would have prevented it"

2nd sentence should be:
"If I prepared, I would prevent it"

Examples:
"If I had prepared for my test, I wouldn't have failed"
"If I prepared for my tests, I wouldn't get bad grades"

[acoustic geyser]

I thought I was talking about mix conditionals?

[trail ridge]

Yeah but I was pointing out the grammatical errors in the sentences you posted

Specifically tense errors

[flat rune]

So you just say I never do means "I probably have done that", right?

[trail ridge]

Not sure if I quite understand your question but no, that's not right.
If you tell someone "I never do that" it means you don't do whatever "that" is ever

"I never drive without my seatbelt on"

-meaning, whenever I get in my car, I make sure to put my seatbelt on before I start driving

"I have never driven without my seatbelt on"

-meaning I have never driven a car without having a seatbelt on

[trail ridge]

If you wanted to tell someone "I've probably done that" it would be
"I've probably driven a car without a seatbelt in the past"

Could also replace "in the past" with "before"

[steady tinsel]

Hi all. New here. I have a question about english that I've always wanted to get a bit more insight on from actual british people. And it's to do with the word / expression "Cheers".
It seems to me that has several meanings depending on the situation right? It can mean, well the obvious "salut!" when you're drinking, but it can also mean thank you right. So my question is, is this more of an umbrella term that I can use everytime I'm saying goodbye to anyone? Even after saying thank you? Thank you, cheers? Or most locals would either say thank you or cheers? Like Cheers, Bye?

Would you say goodbye to a friend or colleague with "Cheers mate"? Not using "bye" at all?

[trail ridge]

It depends what country you're in
I live in Australia and people mostly say cheers as thank you
In the UK it's used as thank you and goodbye
In the US I believe they only say it when they're clanking glasses together at a dinner table but I could be wrong. Never really heard an American person use it out of that context before.

[steady tinsel]

Yea that's why I mentioned Britain specifically, since I work for the UK

but that's interesting to know thank you

[trail ridge]

I can tell you for sure though, Australians say cheers multiple times a day. It's actually more common to say cheers than thank you here unless you're being formal

There's also a slight variation that brits and aussies use which is "cheerio"

[steady tinsel]

In the UK we use cheers in a formal context every day, but I'm not sure if that means we're speaking in a less formal way, or if it's just a common thing across

[trail ridge]

cheers is generally used in informal speaking

you wouldn't use cheers in a professional letter for example

or at a business meeting

[steady tinsel]

https://tenor.com/view/simpsons-homer-simpson-gif-13518564799186478937

[trail ridge]

don't quote me on that for the UK

maybe brits do use it formally

[steady tinsel]

I started using it because partners I work with started using it with me in business meetings, so I started using it always because I love the word ahah

I'm not sure if the royal family would use cheers for example

[trail ridge]

yeah it's a nice word to use because it's more relaxed and up-beat

[steady tinsel]

it can be that they're just trying to lighten the relationship

[trail ridge]

highly doubt it haha

yeah I think just to be safe, don't use it in a super formal setting

maybe only with colleagues you're comfortable with

[steady tinsel]

building that nice rapport. kinda the same in portugal, We either treat people by "Tu" or" Você". You would typicall never treat anyone, professionally or formally, by Tu. But it happens a lot, when people like to disregard formalities in a way

nice insights, thank you mate

[trail ridge]

too easy mate!

[steady tinsel]

can't believe I missed the opportunity to say cheers mate instead... Oh well. Live and learn.

[boreal ingot]

Lmao you oughtn't to force it

[steady tinsel]

Practice makes perfect hehe. I'm trying to shift a little bit of my English culture to the British side now. If I don't force it in the beginning, it will never become second nature. My English is very American, due to cartoons, movies and series growing up, even though I've always loved the British culture and language. And now that I work for the UK I'm trying to fit in a bit more, and kinda transition into a more British English, even going as far as learning about the different accents across England and other countries in the UK, slang and current day-to-day talk, etc... And for that to work out, you have to fake it in the beginning until it makes sense, just like with any language that you learn 🙂

Of course at the end of the day, you will just be a guy that mixes everything up, but I love trying and learning

So far it has helped me at least in one thing that i'm kinda proud of: Before it was very heard for me to understand a british show or movie without subtitles. Now it's no problem. Even with Northern Ireland and Irish accents, and other heavier accents in England. There will always be a couple of expressions I'm not that familiar with, but even that happens in my own country, which is a lot smaller haha. So it's been paying off.

[buoyant thicket]

If they have drinks I would

[steady tinsel]

they usually don't since we are communicating over a Teams Meetings haha

[buoyant thicket]

Fair enough

Do say cheers if you're drinking though

[steady tinsel]

Yea that's a given

I say cheers in Portugal lol

with my friends

[vital river]

#1365326579525484544

[trail ridge]

The hardest accent to understand is the Scottish accent. Especially the further North you go 😂

I even have trouble understanding them sometimes

No offence to any Scottish peeps in here..

[flat rune]

I beg to differ

[boreal ingot]

'the hardest' depends on where you're from and what you've been exposed to; it's really not worth arguing over

[elder breach]

howdy

[boreal ingot]

blunkeet!!

My god, it has been ages :D

[elder breach]

[boreal ingot]

Free to VC?

Not that I'm a great conversationalist. I may be bringing about an awkward VC lol

[idle trench]

When do we use themself & themselves?

[boreal ingot]

the rule generally goes 'themself' when 'they' is singular (about 1 person) and 'themselves' when 'they' is plural (about more than 1 thing or person)

not everyone follows this, though, and many consider 'themself' non-standard

[idle trench]

thanks, i had a hard time differentiating the two pronouns

[flat rune]

"Comforting"

How I'd say it though is "She is comfortable to be around" or "She has a comforting presence"

Or "She's a comforting person"

[acoustic geyser]

Can both adverbs appear in one sentence?
Like:
I just ate that slightly

[shut drift]

You certainly can, though the way you phrased it in the example is a bit unusual. I don't think anyone would have a problem understanding it, but rephrasing as " I just had a slight bite of that" or " I just had a tiny bit of that" might sound more natural while still including multiple adverbs.

[trail ridge]

"I just ate a little" sounds more natural

[jagged heron]

Hey guys, there's a sentence I've never seen before.This is the sentence "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."it means: Buffaloes from Buffalo who are bullied by other buffaloes from Buffalo will themselves bully other buffaloes. Is this real

[bronze maple]

Guys

Is it A or C

Im pretty sure its C since "singing to our favourite songs" is a correct phrase

But the answer given is A

[jagged heron]

A is correct because you sing with something, not to it

[trail ridge]

all of them are kinda wrong tbh

B and C together makes the most sense

along to

but yeah A if you had to pick only one

[jagged heron]

You use "to" when you're singing to someone

[trail ridge]

technically in casual speech people are lazy and just say "singing to our favourite songs"

but if you're trying to be grammatically correct then you need to add "along" in the sentence

"singing with the radio songs in his car" sounds pretty weird too

usually when you say you're "singing with" it's with another person, not an inanimate object hahaha

a radio can't sing

[jagged heron]

yeah,my bad.You were totally right

[dense oasis]

you can say "she makes me feel comfortable"

"I feel comfortable when am around her"

but no, she can not be "comfortable", this would mean that she feels comfortable (and that's not what you mean)

[dense oasis]

She can make you feel comfortable, but this does not mean she feels comfortable or is comfortable [with something]

[mint seal]

Hi pro

[dense oasis]

Oh gosh is this Kiu

[flat rune]

Given the choices you have, you've got to see what each ends up implying.

"to" would indicate you are singing so that the radio songs will listen to you (much the same way as says "A is talking/singing to her.") Which doesn't make sense.

"along" would either mean "from one to the other of something" or "next to something" You can't sing next to (the physical presence of) a radio song. So that is out of the question.

"about" would mean "regarding/on the subject of" He could definitely sing about the radio songs in his car (provided the songs were not playing at the time). And this would happen in a comedy skit or something similar. But clearly this test is looking for answers from everyday mundane events and examples.

That brings us to "with" which would mean "he was listening to the songs being played and singing them simultaneously" in this case. So A would be something I'd choose.

In my personal opinion, the choices provided are rather awkward and make you look at their basic definitions to select an appropriate option (which would be the least awkward choice). This is what most tests do these days to throw you off balance.

[native flare]

?def abrogate

[hazy herald]

Word: abrogate

Definition (verb): revoke formally

Definition requested by _sejuani_

[native flare]

?def drop in the ocean

[hazy herald]

:x: That word could not be found in the dictionary.

[native flare]

?def a drop in the ocean

[hazy herald]

:x: That word could not be found in the dictionary.

[native flare]

?def repeal

[hazy herald]

Word: repeal

Definition 1 (verb): cancel officially
Definition 2 (noun): the act of abrogating; an official or legal cancellation

Definition requested by _sejuani_

[trail ridge]

that expression means something really small that doesn’t make much of a difference when compared to everything else
for example:
In a city of 5 million people, 1 person is a drop in the ocean

[native flare]

Thanks for letting me know. I was actually testing out the hub bot because I posted it as an Idiom here #🌅｜idiom-of-the-week

I use it to double check their meanings.

[trail ridge]

ah gotcha

[flat rune]

yall help me
which to-be verb does "millions of tonnes of + UC" go w, "are" or "is"

[flat rune]

"millions" is plural. So the associated verb has to be plural."Are" is that plural verb. So, go with "are".

[flat rune]

tysm. but someone believed that to adhere to s-v agreement, the verb must be conjugated according to the main subject of the compound noun, which is the UC.

to be specific, they believe that it should be "Millions of tonnes of waste is produced annually."

i also believe such a rule exists, but will this application be fitting in this context?

[flat rune]

Well, the noun here in your sentence is "millions".
"of tonnes of waste" is a prepositional phrase (because it begins with "of") and provides more information about the "millions". So it's an adjectival prepositional phrase.

So "Millions are produced" is correct.
Had you to use "waste" alone then it would have been "Waste is produced annually." since "waste" then is the subject of your sentence.

[flat rune]

Also there is no compound noun in your sentence.
Compound nouns are simply a collection of nouns--such as "cat food", "play group", "world peace", "TV remote".

What you have in your sentence is a noun ("millions") for which more information has been provided via a prepositional phrase ("of millions of waste").

icic. tysm for the detailed explanation.

[flat rune]

You're welcome. I am glad I could be of help.

[chilly stream]

Hello ! is there any native english or fluent english speaker ?

[viscid delta]

What's up?

[chilly stream]

I'm fine what about you?

[viscid delta]

I'm doing alright!
Do you have any specific questions? Or did you just want to chat?

[chilly stream]

I was just looking for an elite or fluent english speaker to talk with so that I can level up my english too!

[chilly stream]

Could you please help me out with that?

[viscid delta]

Ah, I currently can't help you with a long chat! I was going to continue studying my history work. You can most likely find some other native or fluent English speakers in the general chats, though!

[chilly stream]

Alright I'II try find other native speaker , well thanks for connecting.

[boreal ingot]

[harsh forge]

Hello everyone

[rigid sparrow]

Hi! I can help you out if you’re okay with messaging only?
I’m a native speaker from the UK.

[chilly stream]

Ya sure! I'm sending you request alright!

[native flare]

?def evangelising

[hazy herald]

Word: evangelising

No definitions listed.

Definition requested by _sejuani_

[native flare]

?def evangelise

[hazy herald]

Word: evangelise

Definition 1 (verb): preach the gospel (to)
Definition 2 (verb): convert to Christianity

Definition requested by _sejuani_

[idle trench]

are affixes the combination of both prefixes & suffixes?

[dense oasis]

No, an "affix" is either a prefix or a suffix

prefixes and/or suffixes can be called "affixes"

You don't have to remember these terms, though. It's enough if you know that it's "dishonest" and not "inhonest" or something

Or that it's "insincere" but not "dissincere"

These are irregular things, you just either build intuition for this through a lot of listening/reading, or you memorize

even if you forget these and say something like "unfamous" instead of "infamous", people will understand you because of the context, so don't worry

[fading needle]

He just looked so confused to me.
He just looked so confuse to me.

Can anyone explain me the difference between them?

[trail ridge]

The first sentence is grammatically correct
The 2nd sentence is not

[fading needle]

I see. Thanks

[trail ridge]

To be more specific, you're explaining how someone is feeling so you have to use the adjective form of "confuse" which is "confused"

"confuse" by itself is a verb, so it doesn't make sense in that sentence

[fading needle]

gotchu

[acoustic geyser]

I dont understand this, can anyone explain?

[magic valve]

In simple

“That” and “those” are used to point at things that are far away from you—either in distance or sometimes even in time or thought.

Basic Rule:

"That" = singular + far
👉 That cat over there is sleeping. (One cat, not near you)

"Those" = plural + far
👉 Those cookies on the shelf look yummy. (More than one, not close to you)

I hope it's clear I tried to simplify

[humble garnet]

My friend said that, is that correct? What he said about memorising words

[native flare]

There’s something called as a lexicon, that varies from person to person, profession to profession. It’s a vocab strength they have.

So reading/writing does help. A tip I would give you is, try to replace common words with new words. For example
I disagree
Instead of disagree you can use
I condemn

Better than memorising as your dear friend has mentioned

[buoyant thicket]

Yeah memorising really isn't the way past the very basic things like hello, how are you, etc.

[tropic lintel]

I don't know if it's me, but I hear the word "colonel" being pronounced as "kernel" in American English. Is it so?

[dense oasis]

I disagree

Memorizing definitely is the way, but not in this traditional sense

I don't mean memorizing as in cramming. What I mean is SRS stuff, that's spaced repetition system, so you have an amount of things noted down, and then an automatic algorithm distributes them over time to review

I've been doing this thing a lot, throughout the years. Especially when I encountered new words in some videos or in books. For example when you note down "to dazzle", you review this, and then it appears after some days. Then you grade if you remember it, if you do, it gets displayed after an even longer period of time. If you don't, it gets displayed again but just after a day or two

so this way you can have thousands of things, but they can all be reviewed without cramming. You forget something, then you recall it again. This way you strengthen this memory

[dense oasis]

memorizing in this traditional way would be a waste of time, I agree. Just cramming repeatedly would not be good

But after some time you just see this need for something being noted down, and, simultaneously, not having to cram it. That's what I explained above, there is a way of doing this without cramming

[boreal ingot]

Yes

And in British English as well

That's just how the word is pronounced. It's a very common example of how English spelling can be weird

The word was originally spelt with 'r' cuz thas how the French spelt it, but we were like 'nah, make it closer to Latin' and turned that 'r' back into 'l' like it was in Latin (but kept saying it as 'r')

[dense oasis]

we?

[boreal ingot]

Anglophones

[dense oasis]

boohwawatah

[boreal ingot]

I know it was mainly the more learned of the Anglophones at the time, but I'm using 'we' cuz why not

[warm ridge]

bo'l a-wau'a

[boreal ingot]

Love Wiktioanry. Here is an instance of it spelt with 'r'

[dense oasis]

this cor is still misleading cuz even if you do coronel, then it sounds like kernel. So "o" in "cor" is useless

[boreal ingot]

[bɒ̝ʔl̩ə wɔ̝ːʔə]

[warm ridge]

thermonuclear truth DESTRUCTION

[boreal ingot]

seems that second 'o' was pronounced as a schwa at some point

so iss not useless

now iss silent though, since schwas tend to drop

[warm ridge]

iss 😭

[boreal ingot]

hm?

[warm ridge]

i mean yes but also iss 😭

[boreal ingot]

iss my way of writing 'it is'

[warm ridge]

i know

[boreal ingot]

I also use thas lol

iss actually how a lott of people pronounce em in fast speech

[warm ridge]

most likely the same for me, but i personally just wouldn't write it like that. but i get it

[signal shell]

'zat how I talk?

[boreal ingot]

fair ye :> Writing 'thas', 'iss', 'whas', and 'jus' is my lil idiosyncrasy

[boreal ingot]

zza' how I talk?

[signal shell]

I guiss thas uh bedder approssimation

[warm ridge]

guiss? sounds kiwi

[boreal ingot]

this reads like a southerner talks and you don't even sound like a southerner 😭

[signal shell]

Lol yeah

[boreal ingot]

I've been wanting to read up on teh New Zealand accent for a while but I'm soo lazy

[boreal ingot]

ddya laak ta luk adda faa?

guess what Im saying lol

[warm ridge]

do you like to look at a (far?)
i'm not really sure

[boreal ingot]

would you like to look at the fire

[warm ridge]

ahhhh

[boreal ingot]

now that I hear this, 'would you like to' and 'do you like to' sound very similar

[warm ridge]

yeah now that you mention it

i probably wouldn't hear the little u/oo semi-vowel that might occur

[boreal ingot]

I feel like ddya can be turned into jja and still sound normal lol

Yod coalescence could apply here

[warm ridge]

i think in the case of "would you" this does happen, but maybe not with "do you"

[boreal ingot]

Jja think so?
Sounds pretty okay to me

Ot no actually

You're righttt

I wonder why this is the case

I think yod assimilation still applies though, so we get
Jya for do you
And
Jja for would you

Msybe, iss prolly not so cut and dry in actual fluid speech

[warm ridge]

i think maybe if "do you" comes after a vowel, this is more likely to occur. when it begins the sentence it is less likely to happen

i'm not really sure though

[boreal ingot]

No idea at this point lol

I'm jus a learner

[warm ridge]

at this point, me too

[boreal ingot]

This sentence feels weird

is it not correct?

the main part thas bothering me is the 'not to'

maybe that should be 'to not'?

[warm ridge]

i would probably say "it's like being bad enough at a game that you don't know just how hard what's being done is"

though i might attack it from the other angle, and say "not being experienced enough in-"

and then use "to know"

[boreal ingot]

those are better ye

though I do wonder if my sentence was correct

[warm ridge]

uh yeah i think so

as far as i'm concerned, in a grammatical sense, not to and to not should both work, though you're right that "to not" is a bit more clear in this context

[buoyant thicket]

Honestly, it might be better for you, as no brain is the same. But it's horrible for me, I can learn new words through context, and am terrible at remembering like that, so I would learn more new, and useful words just by having conversations with people or reading books

[warm ridge]

ohhh wait if you add "as" both work and it sounds better

as not to know

[boreal ingot]

:D

Thank youu

[junior dust]

hi
can a native person join the Ask A Native VC ?

i have some questions

[acoustic geyser]

For or to for receiving something?

[humble garnet]

That’s one of the best ways that i have been following for months, it is like expanding ur vocabulary without suffering from memorising and whatever.

But it is not enough honestly, there are a lot of words that don’t have many synonyms, so u will be required to get them by another way (a wholesome way) that is not considered as a waste of time and efforts.

But in general it is a good way in many cases. Like (important,essential,crucial).

[humble garnet]

I assume that u all guys have ur ways but im not sure about this one, it seems to me like a waste of time actually, it is not that different from the general way that others do and follow.

Bring a pencil, write down tons of words, and try to remember them afterwards by facing them in everyday speech.

[humble garnet]

Yeah, i felt the same, it is like that i couldn’t really swallow it

[dense oasis]

It may sound this way, I understand if it does sound like this. For me it actually seemed useless before I tried it

The thing is that it's not like that's some idea created by some random people, this thing is being used by medical students in the US and also many language learners

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0363018823001020

"Anki" is a software that uses exactly what I described above (SRS, spaced repetition system)

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23821205231173289
and also
https://asmepublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tct.13798#

the first article describes how medical students use this for radiology, the second describes how med students use this generally for everything med, the third describes this being used for pharmacology students (the third can not be read in its entirety tho, only outcomes, because full article is paywalled by academic institutions)

I found these on google scholar

So, yes, I understand that the way this sounds is odd. But it works for many things, not only medicine as I showed above

I like to cite these articles because they're not written by some casual people, that's written by people teaching medicine to many students, and medicine requires you to study huge amounts of definitions etc, then recall them quickly, just like language learning requires you to remember thousands of words

[dense oasis]

I combine this with reading/listening. I just note down new things encountered in books or wherever else, and then this strategy comes into play. So it's not like I never do any actual reading and stuff

[wicked haven]

I had a question. Which one is correct: "I use carefully" or "I carefully use"?

[rapid bison]

one means "[your] use is careful" and one means "[you] use [something] carefully"

they're both okay

[trail ridge]

if you use the first one something has to come before 'carefully'
"I use my tools carefully"

"I use carefully my tools" is wrong

[obtuse drift]

how do you guys improve your reading ad comprehension? and especially if you can understand English but you cannot speak properly?

[trail ridge]

when I was learning Dutch I found that highlighting every word or phrase that I didn't understand while reading helped a lot, because then I could easily go back and learn/revise it

make a list and revise until you understand

in saying that, I've spoken Afrikaans (very similar langauge to Dutch) since I was a kid, so learning was fairly easy for me

other people in here probably have better tips

[tropic lintel]

I see. Honestly, it's way easier to pronounce it with the 'r' sound.

[tropic lintel]

I have a question. When pronouncing the T sound, and I mean the regular T, that which starts with words like 'Time' for example, in American, does your tongue touch the back of your upper teeth? or is it more like a D sound where your tongue touches the roof of the mouth but then slightly shifted towards the upper teeth (without touching them) to make a T?
Or is it just both depending on the accent (the regional one) or the word?

Hope my question makes sense.

[true light]

Should you say "I will resurrect" or "I will be resurrected" (or something else)?

[dense oasis]

t as the first letter of a word does not sound like a flap t (as in city)

so, t in time and t in city are different

[tropic lintel]

I understand, I'm just asking about the tongue placement. I didn't mean it's flap T, I meant that the tongue is very close to the back of the upper teeth but doesn't touch it.

[tropic lintel]

I believe it's 'I will be resurrected', saying 'I will resurrect' sounds like you're going to resurrect someone.

[tribal bay]

I will be resurrected is correct

And for that 'T' sound like Time, your tongue touches your top teeth

T: Bring the tongue to the teeth(you do not have to smile or show your teeth much) then reenact that sound
I: bring the mouth down and open, start practicing that I sound!
M: bring the back to a close then imagine you're eating your favorite meal, 'Mm'

The E acts silent in this case.

Thyme(a seasoning) is sounded the exact same way but follow the rule of vowels! A E I O U and sometimes Y

(P.S; A constant is any letter NOT in those vowels, lol!)

[tame valley]

"Good afternoon. My name's Debbie Green and I'm going to give you a short but
hopefully interesting introduction to working at this hospital."

why is it not to work but to working.
What’s the difference between infinitives and prepositional phrases?
Both infinitives and prepositional phrases can begin with to. However, an infinitive is “to” plus a verb, while “to” in a prepositional phrase is followed by a noun or pronoun.?

[tropic lintel]

Thanks a million!

[tribal bay]

Working is a verb, an active action...hence the suffix, Ing, used in present tense(now)

Work is often used to describe a place(hospital), Thing(Desk) or sometimes a person
'Mrs./Ms. Green works at the hospital.'

Ms. Green is working at the desk this morning, etc...

To + verb= To working
To + followed by a noun= To work

Prepositional is kinda like adverbs and adjectives...They highlight or add additional information about your noun.

Infinitives are just verbs you proceed with the word, "to".

There's not much to it. <-----(State of being)

Feel free to Dm me if anyone has anymore questions..I'm willing to re understand my own language to help.

[velvet briar]

"and so even if the change is good for them in the long run"

I did not understand the meaning to use "run" in this line

[boreal ingot]

I'm not sure why they've told you that your tongue touches your top teeth when pronouncing a T. It doesn't. T and D are alveolar sounds. That means your tongue is touching your gum ridge, the hard bit behind your teeth. They are commonly apical in English, so you use the tip of your tongue at the alveolar ridge, not the blade of your tongue (that would be laminal). So, if both of them are alveolar (at the gum ridge) and both are apical, what is the difference between T and D?

T

1. Has your vocal cords still while you produce it; they are not vibrating (it is voiceless).
2. Has a puff of air coming out after it (it is aspirated).

D

1. Has your vocal cords vibrating while you produce it (it is voiced).
2. Doesn't have a small puff of air escape after it (it is unaspirated).

A note about T: sometimes it becomes unaspirated (i.e., it loses the puff of air after it). This mainly happens after s. ('Sting').

T: aspirated voiceless apical alveolar
D: unaspirated voiced apical alveolar

[boreal ingot]

Alveolar is at 4 in the first and second pics. You can feel it while dragging your tongue back from your teeth. Before you reach the roof of your mouth you have the hard bit behind and above your teeth. T and D are about the middle of it

[boreal ingot]

Set phrase

[robust bone]

guys

what's the difference between booze and alcohol?

[trail ridge]

same thing

booze is just a slang word

[robust bone]

thanks

[trail ridge]

you can say booze when you're in a casual setting with your friends

"let's go to the liquor store and grab some booze"

[acoustic geyser]

Yo

I heard people saying that we can use will to talk about habitual action.
But what is the difference between it and the present simple?

[trail ridge]

you use "will" when you want to emphasize something predictable that someone does

it's literally just for emphasis

but they both pretty much mean the same thing

"he goes to work every day" vs "he will go to work every day"

[boreal ingot]

booze is drinks that are alcoholic. Alcohol is just alcohol lol

[boreal ingot]

When we say 'Britain's subjection', do we mean that Britain is being subjected by another country, or that Britain has subjected another country?

[green wolf]

Not much of a difference, just be careful not to use it in ambiguous contexts

It also doesn't replace the present simple entirely

For example:

Italians make me laugh when they complain about pineapple on pizza but they'll commonly put fries on it and call it food for kids.

Italians make..
"Italians will make me laugh" (future interpretation only, sounds weird with present interpretation)

They'll commonly put fries...
Present meaning, you can drop the 'will' and the meaning is the same

[dense oasis]

depends on the context but if the context is right now, then Britain is being subjected

elaborating why will get me a ban here

so no reason of course. absolutely no reason

[boreal ingot]

this doesn't really answer my question at all

the phrase 'Britain's subjection' or any country, doesn't have to be Britain

[dense oasis]

alright lol

my bad, i thought about something way too specific

[boreal ingot]

like, that construction, what does it mean?

Is it truly either one depending on context? Could you give two sentences where in one it means a country has subjected another while in the other means it is being subjected by another?

[heavy oak]

hello i have two questions can u help me by giving me the right answers please

1)I will go to the park it doesn't rain.
A) if
B) unless
C) because
D) although

2)I don't know the answer you tell me.
A) unless
B) if
C) when
D) although

my answers were wrong in the quiz that i took but the AI picked the same answers that i did so i am confused

[green wolf]

A and A

[heavy oak]

yeah those were my answers too but in the quiz its wrong so the problem is not from me right xD

[green wolf]

Right 👍🏻

[heavy oak]

Thx for the response

[sinful gulch]

Lmao the se ond question answer is D,imo

The 2 clauses are opposite

If we use unless,the first clause should be the future tense

[robust bone]

how often do natives say "holy cow"?

is it corny?

[boreal ingot]

No idea what you're saying, but the answers are A and A

[boreal ingot]

It doesn't sound all that odd. Iss fairly common

[signal shell]

I also think it's A and A

[bleak granite]

is it pronunced data or data?

[dense oasis]

it should not

2. is an example of 0 conditional

present tense before if/unless and present tense after it

I understand what you mean, the rule you mentioned is from 1st conditional

But this one here is 0 conditional. So this rule does not apply

"I don't know the answer unless you tell me", "I won't know the answer unless you tell me", "I wouldn't know the answer unless you told me", "I wouldn't have known the answer unless you have told me", all versions of this in all conditionals (0, 1st, 2nd, 3rd)

[flat rune]

data

[robust bone]

it would be "deytah"

[boreal ingot]

Here:

[humble garnet]

It depends on the context i guess, was there any contexts that were linked or related to the quiz u got?

I mean (because) here works well also,

It is like saying, since it doesn’t rain, i will go to the park.

If works well as well

As because

[humble garnet]

The answer of The question n2 is definitely (unless)

[sinful gulch]

Uhh....Why I see the "although" is also suitable

[sinful gulch]

"Data" in British accent called Datah,but in American accent ,it is Deytah

[pallid falcon]

Hello! I am currently in a grade 12 creative writing class and I would appreciate some help with writing a one - two page script if anyone could help me out, I'm a bit confused. I can DM the script so far if anyone is open to help.

https://adsbca-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/r/personal/lent5105_adsb_ca/Documents/yes.docx?d=w21f951487eff491fbd7ff5173a707df7&csf=1&web=1&e=WVYwmG

[forest maple]

"It's the only survivor of a type of bear that once ranged across America during the last ice age." what is the meaning of the word "ranged" in this sentence ? I asked chatgpt and it translate it to my language as "live" or "apper" but i didn't find this kind of definiton of this word. He translate it also to "travel freely" which also make sense i guess, and here i was able to find that definition. But i still wonder if first meaning also can be correct.Thx in advance ^^

[boreal ingot]

Sure sure

[worn fern]

What’s 🆙

[nimble sundial]

what's up

[boreal ingot]

How do you phrase that someone had to repeat a school year for whatever reason?

Does 'repeat' work?

My marks were pretty bad so I had to repeat year 11

Or do you say 'get held back'?

My marks were pretty bad so I got held back a year

[latent reef]

Both work and are acceptable

Only thing I would say, is year is often used in the UK, grade is used in the US, and in the UK (as far as I am aware, I am from London) people don't get held back

[boreal ingot]

I'm sorry, when you say 'people don't get held back', is this a statement about the phrasing 'be held back' and how common it is in the UK, or is that actually just a statement about, yk, whether people are made to repeat school years 😅

I'm a wee bit confused

sorry

My question wasn't really about year vs grade. It was just asking how you would phrase the fact you had to repeat a school year

[latent reef]

A bit of both, so people in the UK don't get held back, if a student does really bad they might go to a special school for extra help

[boreal ingot]

Ahh, I understand

That is new information to me. Thank you

[latent reef]

But on the phrasing, both "repeat" & "held back" are usable, just changes the tone

[boreal ingot]

What are the connotational differences?

[latent reef]

For the most part both are negative, but "held back" is more emotive, and "repeat" is more matter-of-fact

[boreal ingot]

Understood! My many thanks to you 💜

[latent reef]

No worries, any questions feel free to dm me

[boreal ingot]

I believe it only means the latter, 'Travel freely'. However, these animals travelled as they wish throughout America would sort of imply that they lived there. It also puts emphasis on the fact they were free, since they could tarvel as they pleased

[boreal badger]

Help with the word #in##l#

Also has T and H

[past sky]

its ninthly, as in firstly and secondly

[boreal ingot]

@boreal badger

[half mortar]

Hello everyone

[dense oasis]

to range across America = to wander/roam/travel freely across America

there is a word like "a ranger"

that's the person who's responsible for some part of a forest

and it makes me think these two could be connected

like, a ranger could be called this way because they range across the forest

...idk. it feels unusual to me. I am used to seeing "to range" in contexts like "the responses ranged from negative to positive ones"

(that's a different meaning)

[torn spindle]

I think learning grammar topic one by one in hope to improve grammar is waste, I should better practice proofreading exercises.

[boreal badger]

Yes, thank you

What a ridiculous word

[mint coyote]

Is anyone really thinking if there is enough evidence for any prediction they are making when they are using going to vs will?

[trail ridge]

Nope, mostly just intuition I reckon

[green wolf]

Well, there are patterns

It's not a conscious decision most of the time, but they are not always interchangeable

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/going_to

There's a table on this page that I've always liked

It may be of use to you

[acoustic geyser]

What's the difference?
As the show increases in popularity, more and more tickets are sold daily.
While the show is increasing in popularity, more and more tickets are selling daily.

[trail ridge]

First one is the most natural way to say it
2nd one is better suited when making a negative comparison

Example
While the show is increasing in popularity online, less and less tickets are selling daily

(Added the online bit so it didn’t sound contradictory)

You could also alter the 2nd one to “As the show increases in popularity, more and more tickets are selling daily”

If not trying to make a negative comparison

[hard dove]

How do you identify if [given] is a common noun or a count noun? Isn't count & mass noun a category under common nouns?

[acoustic geyser]

So as sounds natural than while and when?

[trail ridge]

Yeah unless you're trying to make a negative comparison, it's best to begin that sentence with "as"

If you begin the sentence with "while", it's synonymous with saying "although"

In this context

[trail ridge]

they're subcategories

[dense pulsar]

In my curriculum, why is the answer to this question tag like this:

• He needn't stay, need he?
• He needs to stay, doesn't he?

Is it [(needn't or does) he]

[bitter hill]

1. For the first one, 'need' is an auxiliary/semi-modal verb, so we also use it in the tag. Since the anchor is negative, the tag is positive
2. For the second, 'need' is a main verb so we use 'do' in the tag. Since the anchor is positive, the tag is negative
   https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/need

[dense pulsar]

thanks very much!

[unique fractal]

heyall guys!

is the phrase "i wanted to ask apologies" correct? or there is other best way to say that?

[vale shard]

no

where are you from?

[boreal ingot]

It's not. Are you trying to say 'I wanted to ask you for forgiveness' or 'I wanted to ask you to apologise'?

[flat rune]

In 1641 Portuguese Malacca fell into VOC hands and in 1648 the Eighty Years’ War ended in Europe, bringing to a close the state of hostility between the Netherlands and Spain. It became clear in the middle years of the seventeenth century, however, that VOC hegemony could not be established merely by peace treaties, the erection of fortresses and the maintenance of naval supremacy.

What does that mean?

Expansion?

[trail ridge]

"erection" of a building or structure

basically means the "construction" of fortresses

most basic way to say that would be "the building of fortresses"

[native flare]

?def edify

[hazy herald]

Word: edify

Definition (verb): make understand

Definition requested by _sejuani_

[languid ridge]

?def masticate

[hazy herald]

Word: masticate

Definition 1 (verb): chew (food); to bite and grind with the teeth
Definition 2 (verb): grind and knead

Definition requested by arrrchion33

[acoustic geyser]

Yo

Could you guys double check this?
What is the different between Why would I and Why should I?

[harsh ledge]

Yp, This Is Right .

[torn spindle]

Would when probability of yes is less. And should when the probability is little higher

[fading needle]

How can one differentiate between: This, That and It?

[torn spindle]

This - it is used for something which is near by you. Like you see it.
That- for far away objects.
It - for singular object.

[robust bone]

maybe bots? I've never seen it

anyways, is there any difference between "I have the impression that" and "I have the feeling that"?

[green wolf]

Not when you're sharing your opinion

Otherwise they are used differently

[robust bone]

which is more used?

[green wolf]

"I have a feeling that" sounds the most natural for most situations

[trail ridge]

In most everyday speech, people will phrase it as “I get the impression that” and it’s usually used when making a more calculated judgement based on the way someone is behaving
“I get the impression that she doesn’t like me very much”

“I have a feeling that” is what people usually say when they are making a judgement from emotion or instinct
“I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen”

[acoustic geyser]

Which english should I focus?

Informal, formal or casual?

And when do people use formal English?

[spiral marsh]

🦅 🇺🇸

[flat rune]

The answer to your question lies in the definition of the terms (informal, formal, and casual) you've asked about. Do look them up and you'll get an inkling as to what kind to use where and when.

[flat rune]

Well, it depends on the context in which all three are used. "This" and "that" can point to the same object that "it'" talks about. "It" is a pronoun that can refer to a noun--a common noun--(water, land, cup, car, bus, plate, etc.)

"This" and "that" indicate the location of the object.

"This" would imply the object is close to you (you're probably standing close to it.).

And "That" would indicate it's at a distance from where you are (probably across the street, across the room, or up in the sky or across the waters.-- essentially, at a noticeable distance from you).

[acoustic geyser]

Okay
Anyway, does I would have thought emphasis on the present than I thought?

[flat rune]

May I ask for the context in which you’re using these expressions? Context does provide clues as to how and why you’re using these.

[acoustic geyser]

I would have thought I could win and I thought I could win

[flat rune]

In this case, “I thought…” is clearly simple past tense.

“I would have thought” indicates a hypothetical situation. It’s a conditional tense. It is the past tense of “will have” and indicates a situation that might have happened (but probably did not).

[flat rune]

Should you do a Google search for “will have” and “would have”, you’ll find two excellent resources: one is by British Council; and the other, by Voice of America. Do read those two.

This is spam, people. It is very obviously false. Please do not entertain this.

[boreal ingot]

The historian Matthew of Paris, who flourished during the reign of Henry III. (1216–1272), relates that Sewal, Archbishop of York, who died in 1258, wrote a letter of remonstrance to the Pope, complaining of the way in which he had been harassed by suspensions, examinations, and in other ways, because he refused to accept of inexperienced persons recommended by the pontiff to benefices, on the ground that they were ignorant of the English language.

Does this mean that

1. Sewal wouldn't receive these persons recommended by the pope as benefices of the church (won't make them benefices)
2. Sewal wouldn't receive these persons whom the pope recommended to some benefices (won't make them something, even though the pope went to benefices and gave a recommendation)

Bare in mind I know nothing of Christianity, of what benefices are, and of what pontiff means beyond that it means 'pope'

[flat rune]

In this case, “refused to accept” implies he, Sewal, wouldn’t acknowledge and respect the authority of those inexperienced people. Nowhere in the paragraph does it mention he actually received them (as guests, visitors, etc.)

[boreal ingot]

accept them for a position, receive them as new people for a position, that's what I meant with 'receive'. Sorry I wasn't clear. Could you tell me which of the interpretations in my original message is right?

[flat rune]

Also, those people were recommended “to benefices”, which implies they were recommended to a person, Not recommended “for the position of benefices” (for the job of being benefices).

[boreal ingot]

So, interpretation 2 is the one that's correct?

Thanks for answering

[flat rune]

Yes, but “some” is an assumption you’re making there since the paragraph doesn’t say anything about “few, some, or a large number” of benefices. Just “benefices”. So please be careful with that and avoid that.

[boreal ingot]

Alrighty alrighty, many thanks, mate :)

[fading needle]

Can we also use 'This' like to refer something in a short video or reel? or should we use 'That' for it.

[torn spindle]

If the video is infront of you than use "this".

[boreal ingot]

'this' and 'that' aren't only about physical distance. Temporal distance (was it recent or long ago? Is it soon or far in the future?) and how closely you feel you are connected to the situation also factor in

Say, if you think racism is bad and see a racist meme, you could say 'I don't know why that's on my feed'

'that' there is used to distance yourself from the situation

That was the craziest experience I've had in my life.
This was the craziest experience I've had in my life.

Here, 'this' implies the experience wasn't that long ago. Probably just ended

'that' implies the experience was longer ago in time

Sometimes 'this' implies more emotional investment in a situation

This is what I mean when I say we're not safe. This poor lady was murdered in cold blood ...
^ Here when you say 'this', it feels like you're close to the situation on an emotional level. You're sympathising more

I understand what's going on is pretty bad and harmful, but I'll stay away from all of that.
^ Here, using 'that' feels like you're not very emotionally invested in the situation. Emotionally 'far' from the situation

It's a fair bit more complicated than just 'close and far', but it's generally related to 'distance' from something, on some literal or metaphorical or emotional level

@fading needle

[fading needle]

@torn spindle @boreal ingot Thanks for the explanation, i got it now.

[dawn cipher]

Whisper of wonder – even your quietest moments are full of magic.

[wooden pecan]

Bro stop it, you literally spam it in mutiple channels

[dry estuary]

I have a sentence like this, "The drug is derived from the bark of the cinchona tree, native to South America"
Does native to in this case means that the tree ONLY grows in S.A?

[trail ridge]

It means that it's originally a South American tree

Doesn't mean it can't or doesn't grow elsewhere now

[dry estuary]

ooooooooooooh

thank you!

[acoustic geyser]

Yo

Are at school and at the school like how we use article?

[waxen plinth]

At the school = We mean a specific school building as a location.

I met her at the school yesterday

At school = We are talking about the learning process (as a place of action or status).

My son is at school now

[acoustic geyser]

But other learning English websites say otherwise

[acoustic geyser]

Yo

Does present perfect emphasise a past action that we don't care when it happened, even if it doesn't have a result in present?

[waxen plinth]

Make example

[worldly arch]

how to get from B2 to c1? I am kind of lost.

[wide turret]

!q

!t

?t

[hazy herald]

Topic

What is the strangest app you have heard of or tried?

The English Hub - Source: yagpdb topic command + other sources

[wide turret]

?t

[hazy herald]

Topic

How comfortable are you speaking in front of large groups of people?

The English Hub - Source: yagpdb topic command + other sources

[wide turret]

?t

[hazy herald]

Topic

How ambitious are you?

The English Hub - Source: yagpdb topic command + other sources

[prisma anchor]

The difference between those two levels of English proficiency lies in nuance and flexibility. You'll have to focus on expanding your vocabulary, synonyms won't be enough, and you'll have to spend some time on learning idioms, phrasal verbs, and collocations. You'll also need to work on your grammar, just to take it to that next level, there's loads of guides online. The best way to improve is through online mock exams, grammar guides, and through consistently reading literature, don't stick to just regular old novels, read some scientific research papers, essays, and opinion pieces. You need to expose yourself to a variety of styles, vocabulary, and complex sentence structures to have that nuance and flexibility in your level of English proficiency

This is just what worked for me though. There might be a better way to go about it, or someone else might have another input to help you out with

B2 itself is a huge achievement. You'll get to C1 in no time if you keep up the consistency!

[boreal ingot]

Need help pronouncinf these. I can't find any recordings or IPA transcriptions:
odynophagia
onychophagia

This is my attempt ^

[boreal ingot]

I've been able to find that in 'dysphagia' that first 'a' is like in 'patient' not like in 'pat'

I guess that would apply to these words

Is this correct?

[worldly arch]

Wow , this advice is huge, thanks 🙏

[celest condor]

Yes correct. I think they call that long A VS short A? That would be a long A

Medical terms are so often mispronounced that it will likely be understood either way, but this is the intended pronunciation

[celest condor]

The action happened sometime in the past and is still happening. The emphasis is on the fact that it's still happening or has a current effect

[flat rune]

Content. You need to read watch and listen to anything and everything you can

[humble garnet]

Well, it needs time of course, but once you are already a b2 level learner, it is only a matter of time until you become a c1 level learner and else, and let’s dive into the topic and the core of the discussion, look, first of all, you need to enhance and develop your skills at everyday conversations and else by both reading and listening a lot in a proper way, you will just develop as you listen and read permanently and more importantly properly.

And i sense that the wall that holds the b2 guys is that they are not that fluent in conversations and discussions as a result of the lack of vocabulary they have.

The more you develop your vocabulary the better you get at expressing yourself in a way that you like, ignoring that you might mistake and whatever. You just need to push forward by practicing and practicing until you get tired, that would help you a lot and make you fluent.

Don’t forget to expand your vocabulary most importantly.

[worldly arch]

Yes but what kind of vocabulary should I expand? There are A lot of words to learn, should I learn every herbs name or animal? Or should I go with the things I need in my life only?

[humble garnet]

The vocabulary that helps you debate and talk freely.

[worldly arch]

Such a nice advice thank you I was lost but I know I think I know what to do

[tough lion]

hey

Normally, when reading english i can fully comprehend the content ( understand everything in the passages). But recently i've found out that my performance in ielts reading is way worse than before. Even if the whole reading passages were writen in my mother language, i can't still not be able to score more than 6.5.

How could i fix this

i guess my brain processes the information and reacts to it in a weird way so sometimes i make silly mistakes

[celest condor]

Sometimes that can come from learning to think in a new way. Languages can change the way ideas form or how stories are told. It's fun to learn new words within just one subject. Pick something you like and get comfortable talking about it. Writing can be helpful too for thinking through things. There's a few articles on the "intermediate plateau" that have some good advice

[boreal ingot]

Am I pronouncing the first parts correctly? odyno- and onycho-

[celest condor]

Yes ah-din-oh

[dense pulsar]

"Like Charles Dicken's earlier stories, 'Oliver Twist' was published in a magazine, which readers could read part of every month. His readers were shocked when they learned that this was not only a story, but based on real events and people in the capital city."
What does the relative pronoun which refer to? my teacher says that it cant refer to "a magazine" as he considers the sentence before it a parenthetical sentence. Any help. Is my teacher wrong?

[agile crow]

which refers to the story Oliver Twist

[green wolf]

It refers to Oliver Twist

If we formalise the grammar a bit, it's easier to understand:

Oliver Twist was published in a magazine, a part of which readers could read every month.

[lyric parcel]

do people still use double negative? Why it's not a thing anymore?

does the word "anymore" exist in old English?

(watching movie Sinners)

[prisma anchor]

It definitely is in spoken language. It's just informal and grammatically incorrect, so you might not run into it in literature

[trail ridge]

African Americans and some people in the southern part of the USA speak with double negatives
But yeah as Sanna pointed out it's very bad grammar so it should be avoided

[acoustic geyser]

Yo

Is expect stronger than think?

ChatGPT told me that

[dense pulsar]

Thanks! ❤️

So it's not a parenthetical sentence like my teacher did and considered the answer his earlier stories like this:-

"Like Charles Dicken's earlier stories, 'Oliver Twist' was published in a magazine, which readers could read part of every month."
""Like Charles Dicken's earlier stories,.., **which **readers...

[boreal ingot]

People still use double negatives

If you watch TikToks with black Americans you'll hear it a lot

It's just dialectal

Often, though, AAEV constructions and terms are adopted into internet slang

So you'll hear it from people outside that community as well (like what happened with unc, huzz, ain't, finna, gyat)

[dense pulsar]

may sb pls confirm

[boreal ingot]

I beleive the optional bit is 'Like Charles Dicken's earlier stories'

the 'which' refers to 'Oliver Twist'

[dense pulsar]

so if I paraphrase the sentence:

"Oliver Twist, a part of which readers could read every month, was published in a magazine, like his earlier stories."

yeah it makes sense now

[boreal ingot]

Yup, that's good

the rephrasing is awkward but it captures the meaning right

[dense pulsar]

Yeah but thanks so much for the help <3!

[celest condor]

"I couldn't not do it"
"that's not wrong"
"it's not that I don't dislike it"
These are more casual forms. I'm unsure how proper they are. Usually this happens when someone is being indirect or avoidant

[lyric parcel]

me counting how many yes and no so i can get to the last "is it negative at end?"

[boreal ingot]

Do people really say the third one?

I feel I hear

It's not that I dislike it
Which is already a double negative

But the one you presented I've never heard

It's not that I'm trying to say it's ungrammatical (it's not); I'm just wondering if it's used at all

I feel that yours is a triple negative. Honestly, if ever one should be used, that sentence you presented is the most likely

[lyric parcel]

it's not that i aint no dislike it lol

[boreal ingot]

[celest condor]

You're right I think I meant like not dislike

[boreal ingot]

Ahh

That makes sense

[celest condor]

I've heard it with dislike but it feels so odd to understand

I don't like avoidant speech

[boreal ingot]

It's not that I don't dislike it; I just feel it's not all bad, you know? There is some good in it. BUT, I can see why it's wrong

That's how I'd use it. Like, if people are expecting me to dislike it and I'm scared to admit there is some good in it

[lyric parcel]

then what "it's not that i like it" means

[boreal ingot]

you dislike it, but not 100%

[lyric parcel]

ohh

[boreal ingot]

It's not that I don't dislike = you like it but not 100%

[lyric parcel]

still typing...

[celest condor]

I feel it's taking into account what the other person expects you to think too. If you would be offended that I like it I'll ease your offense by clarifying

[boreal ingot]

so like, if someone asks you 'I though you disliked that, no?' you could say 'it's not that I dislike it. It just has some flaws that need to be worked on, in my opinion'
So you're showing you have some negative opinion, but it's not fully negative

[celest condor]

Thinking about this is tough

Yeah usually the point is adding nuance to a dislike or like

People tend to have polarized opinions

[lyric parcel]

yea i got it now

[boreal ingot]

yea, 100% true

[lyric parcel]

things like past tense still confuse me

"I liked cake"

YEa I know I've brought it up before

it's just one of English pet peeve

like if you still like the cake now, pls use present tense i wouldn't care about past tense

[celest condor]

I would say "I used to like cake"

[boreal ingot]

I'll ask a question of my own:

1. 'by the way' there isn't in the modern sense, is it? What do they mean by it?
2. What does 'so much the rather' mean? I thought it may be related to this meaning of 'rather' on Wiktioanry (second img), but I'm really not sure.

I get the gist of this text, but I'd like to understand the construction. Might question 2's answer be related to 'so much the better' and 'so much the worse'?

Note: Don't dismiss that Wiktioanry meaning cuz it's 'obsolete', the example is from the 1600s and the text in the first img is from the late 1500s

[lyric parcel]

ah yea that's better

i just stammer when i read "liked"

[celest condor]

Oo "by the way" comes from a way as in a road or path. It can be used like "by method of" or "on the way (to somewhere)"

[boreal ingot]

ohhh

he intercepted the letters on his wayyy/journey

Ahh that makes so much sense!

[celest condor]

Yeah the second one's tough... I read this as a preference for one outcome over another, taking into account what the situation called for. It's giving an explanation why he favored her, as the conditions had been favorable

It almost reminds me of the way latter is used. The rather is the outcome that makes sense, the latter is the second outcome

[boreal ingot]

hmm, makes sense I guess. I had been thinking that the most likely meaning is that she would accpet him to her husband (which is an old way to say 'accept him to become her husband') so soon as he performed the conditions, and that would be done by killing her enemies

[celest condor]

"all the more likely" would be a decent modern equivalent

Old English had pretty traditional methods for making decisions, so if it made sense and satisfied the normal conditions, they would be married. It's just assumed based on the situation because that's what marriage was then

I do think you're right I'm just trying to find more ways to say it

[boreal ingot]

I mean, this is Middle English, not Old English. I don't know how the matrimony culture was back then 😅

[celest condor]

If she says vanquish my enemies well gosh darn it I'll do it, and we'll be wed

[boreal ingot]

What gallantry

[celest condor]

In many stories of history marriages were politically charged too. They were combining family lines which is a big deal if one has money or power

[boreal ingot]

by the way, you say he favoured her, but in the text it says 'whom she had ever favoured'

So I'm a wee confused by the explanation. I would appreciate a rephrasing of sorts

Sorry

[celest condor]

I hate the little S thing that's my bad. She favored him as he had met all the conditions. That phrase is putting emphasis that the conditions had met and so her favor had indeed been established

"so much so" also seems appropriate

[boreal ingot]

Ah, yeah, natives aren't normally familiar with the long s

[boreal ingot]

Ohh

so you're saying that maybe by 'the rather' it's like 'he was so much the prefered choice'

Now I can truly see the two possible interpretations, yeah. This one ^ which you saw and teh one I gave

Kinda hard to see which is more fitting 😅

thank you so much though. Discussing this with you has helped me properly understand it 💜

[celest condor]

"she favored him, so much so, as he had met the conditions"

[boreal ingot]

I love English from the 1800s and even 1700s, but anything from the 1600s and before kind of drives me mad

[celest condor]

I feel that they wouldn't say it this way unless it was while telling a story. It adds a feeling similar to drama or to show a strong causal relationship

I read beowulf once and almost had a mental breakdown

[boreal ingot]

Yeah, I remember seeing this one video of a reading of a transcript of a court hearing or smth from the 1600s and it was veryyy much not like how they wrote. Was suprisingly modern-ish sounding, actually. Back then they loved to go fancy in writing, and I kinda like that, but also damn it hurts to read sometimes
https://youtu.be/MnUJDdZxIQ0?si=NKatqvLY0pivy7aw

[boreal ingot]

Oh, did you understand anything? Old English is basically another language that you have to study properly to understand after all

Ohh, are you an English major? I think English majors would prolly have to read beowulf 😅

[celest condor]

This was senior year of high school. Reading religious and older texts helped a lot

Modern English looks very different when you see how the words change over time. There's cultural reasons for every shift. The emotion behind the text is usually clearer than the meaning

Humans don't really change that much but culture does

[boreal ingot]

They make you read actual Old English, as in Anglo-Saxon, in highschool over there?

[celest condor]

The assignment was two pages of it but what fun is that

[boreal ingot]

Ahh I see

That's amazing. I'd love it if my teachers gave us such an assignment. Having a giding hand like a teacher while reading Old English seems nice

[green wolf]

Hmmm 340 year old english, really hits the spot

[boreal ingot]

434 year old English

Really does hit the spot

Or wait no

[celest condor]

My 5th grade teacher assigned my reading group 20000 leagues under the sea. Little ridiculous but it did help a ton

[boreal ingot]

Didn't see the message you replied to lol

[boreal ingot]

Okay what

That is ridiculous lol

That teacher is mad, but I bet that class has grown up to be great readers

[celest condor]

The class was split into groups named by letter. I was in the Z group so they just threw something big at us and said do your best

Imagine 5 12 year olds discussing Jules Vern and wracking our minds and debating meaning

[rapid bison]

hmm
when I say "subtract 4 from 10", the answer is 6;
is there a word I can insert between 10 and 4 so that when I say "subtract 10 [blank] 4", the answer's still 6?

[celest condor]

I think "by"

[rapid bison]

👀

"by" sounds gud

[boreal ingot]

idk, I'd use 'reduce' or 'lessen' with 'by'

Wouldn't use 'subtract'

[rapid bison]

you must use "subtract" for this question
I'd reword it to "10 minus 4" if I could, but this case, I can't

[boreal ingot]

odd question lol

[rapid bison]

all of my figures were even 😭😭

[boreal ingot]

But yeah then. I don't think iss really correct to say 'subtract 10 by 4', but that's the best answer

[rapid bison]

scella's (n + 1)th "it's not correct, but it's the most correct" response 🙏

[celest condor]

I don't like by because it also could indicate multiply like "10 by 6" is 10x6 but it works

[rapid bison]

well, we did preface it with "subtract", so we're safe

[boreal ingot]

no like, it's like saying '10 by 6' already means '10 times 6', so saying 'subtract 10 by 6' means 'subtract 60'

Thas what I got from Sylens's answer, and I kinda agree lol

[rapid bison]

oh yeah, there's that

this wouldn't work because of your interpretation

[boreal ingot]

that can be solved by adding 'units' to the end of the sentence or smth

Reduce 10 by 7 units

but that sounds silly

[rapid bison]

given your interpretation, "reduce 70 units" is still possible

[boreal ingot]

Actually, yeah, that's true. But then you'd ask 'reduce to what?'

So I guess it depends on the context

we're just arguing semantics at this point. 'by' is the best answer as Sylens said 😭

[rapid bison]

"by" is the best answer 🤝

[boreal ingot]

Do people actually say 'viva la britannia'?

main thingy for me is the 'britannia' instead of 'britain'

[celest condor]

Pretty sure Britannias root came before Britain did

[acoustic geyser]

Yo

[celest condor]

I'm probably talking out my butt

[acoustic geyser]

Is must less use because it sounds formal and serious?

[boreal ingot]

'must' is common, but yeah, it's much more formal than 'should' and 'need to'

[celest condor]

"The word ‘Britannia’ is derived from ‘Pretannia’, from the term that the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (1 BC) used for the Pretani people, who the Greeks believed lived in Britain. Those living in Britannia would be referred to as Britanni."

[boreal ingot]

much more demanding/urgent

[celest condor]

Silly Greeks

[boreal ingot]

Oh I see

[acoustic geyser]

I mean Must if we use that word to talk about necessicity

[boreal ingot]

You must eat your food
^ more formal than
You have to eat your food

Yes

It's more formal

Brittany: peninsula in france
Great Britian: the big island of the British Isles
Britain: sometimes refers to the political union known as the United Knigdom
Briton: one of the Celts that originally lived on the island Great Britain
Breton: one of the Celts that originally lived in Brittany
Breton: a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Brittany
Brit: someone from the United Kingdom (unless they don't like being claled a Brit)
Briton: this one is also sometimes used for people form the United Kingdom

Help, I hate English

[celest condor]

Brittanie: the girl who broke my heart in the 7th grade

[rapid bison]

hmm
gurl, are they also of differing levels of obligation? :p

[acoustic geyser]

Also is need to more polite than must?

[dense oasis]

Brittanie probably does onlyfans in Brittany, in Breton, and her "viewers" are all Brits

[boreal ingot]

'must' sometimes has a more internal obligation feeling

[rapid bison]

hmm

[boreal ingot]

not always, but often it's like 'you are morally bound to do that'

'have to' doesn't have such a connotation

[dense oasis]

also "you must know her" typa meaning

it's not like you have to know her cuz someone forces you to

[boreal ingot]

I must feed the starving and help the weak

kind of meaning

[celest condor]

When speaking if it's important they exaggerate "has" "this has to happen"

[boreal ingot]

'have to' doesn't work as well there, unless someone else is making it your duty, instead of it being a moral thingy you feel

[dense oasis]

you changed thing to thingy very nice

[acoustic geyser]

Yo

[dense oasis]

thingy is so cute. Like Brittanie

[boreal ingot]

'Thingy' supremacy

[dense oasis]

Brittanie who does onlyfans in Brittany, in Breton, and is watched by Brits

[boreal ingot]

It's not more polite inherently, but it's less demanding, so, by extention, can come off as politer

You need to eat your food!
^ feels like I'm really urging you, beseechingly-ish
You must eat your food!
^ feels like I'm putting my foot down and saying there is no other option

[acoustic geyser]

So it's polite?

Thanks

[hardy gull]

Could someone help me? I wanted to go on a call with someone to learn English better

[dense pulsar]

Hello!
In this sentence:
All the poetry he wrote was destroyed in a fire.

• Why did we use the past simple tense in "he wrote"? Isn't it supposed to be past perfect as the process of writing the poetry was completed before it was destroyed in a fire?

[acoustic geyser]

Yo

What is different between B and B?

[boreal ingot]

Using the past perfect would indeed be correct, but it's optional

Americans are more inclined to forego using the past perfect than Brits

[boreal ingot]

I feel they're pretty much the same but I'm not sure

People don't really use 'suppose' to suggest a course of action. It's more common to use it to mean 'let's imagine [x] is true' when having a debate

Suppose he did commit the crime, how would you punish him?

The way they phrased it is really uncommon with 'suppose', but people do suggest things using 'what if'

[dense pulsar]

Thanks! But if they are in a multiple choice answer, which to choose?

[boreal ingot]

If the past perfect is there as an option, I'd prefer it over the past simple

However, if we're talking about someone dead, for some reason I'd prefer the past simple

I'm not exactly sure why

In the 1800s, all the poetry Shakespeare wrote was destroyed in a fire.

[dense pulsar]

I see

thanks!

💚

[crimson vortex]

Indeed. I happened to read a light novel translated into British English and they used past perfect very often. Imo, they overused it.

[boreal ingot]

I'm not sure what would count as overusing the past perfect, but generally Brits use it the normal amount and Americans use it less 😅

[crimson vortex]

I mean, there were several occasions when I'd prefer past simple over past perfect because the action didn't precede the other one nor did it explain it

[boreal ingot]

ahh I see

Sometimes amature writers do that yeah

[crimson vortex]

By the way, I got a question

Why do natives often say something like "Why would you do this?" instead of regular "Why did you do this?". Is the former considered formal or informal? Are there any other use cases of "would" that are not related to wishes, conditions, offers or requests?

[boreal ingot]

I feel that sort of has an implied 'ever' to it.

Why would you ever do that?
Where it's like, 'what ever situation would possibly lead you to do that?' It's expressing how you thought that under no circumstance would the person to whom you're speaking do what they did, yet they did it, so you're wondering what sort of situation would lead them to do it. The hypothetical that demands 'would' be used is kind of implied. However, most don't think of it in this way. It's just a really emphatic way to say 'Why?????? Why did you do [x]?'

[dense pulsar]

"The people who built these houses also ............. amazing long walls called 'kites' to catch animals with."
a) built b) had built
I see this confusing, the answer in our curriculum says it is "had built", but the linking word also's presence means that both connected parts of the sentence are supposed to be narrated using the same tense, Past simple.
- Is the answer really had built or built?

[hoary lichen]

why would you do this implies more of an incredulous confusion

it’s more about rationale

instead of a concrete reason

[wary ferry]

Hey I have been wanting to get a grip on my english grammar where I can learn and practice it. So are there any resources which would help me with it? It can be a pdf or a yt channel. I think youtube would be better. I feel like I'm always confused with phrases, adjectives, conjunctions, tenses etc. So any resource which will help me master from the very basics will be appreciated. Thank you in advance🌟.

[boreal badger]

What is that word?

R#### Also has B and U, probably has Y

[wary ferry]

Rebuy?

[hoary lichen]

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar

[dense pulsar]

!!!??

[hoary lichen]

built is correct

there’s no implied temporal sequence so there’s no need

[dense pulsar]

Thanks! :D

[hoary lichen]

but it does depend on your curriculum

if your curriculum is.. wrong.. you still have to follow it

if you’re being examined that is

it also flows a trillion times better to say had also built instead of also had built

[dense pulsar]

yeah, unfortunately
I just wanted to make sure that my assumption built would be the correct answer but will forcefully follow my curriculum

[hoary lichen]

it is what it is

[dense pulsar]

Yep 💀

[wary ferry]

I visited the website and it's helpful, thank you!!

[dull bough]

Off topic, but it's a pure pleasure to see you fluent, black cat! I remember you advanced haha

[dense oasis]

I don't really care about these two so deeply, I change them randomly

But thank you

[dense pulsar]

Um,, Ig I have asked a lot of questions recently but

"There has even been an accusation that I am working to promote the hotel company, but *this * is not true."
can you please confirm if the pronoun this refers to an accusation that the speaker is working to promote the hotel company?

[boreal ingot]

Yup, that's what it refers to

[dense pulsar]

tysm
I'd like to give you this: 🫀

[boreal ingot]

Thank you for the meal

[dense pulsar]

😂 yw

[dense oasis]

@dull bough tbh if I think about this twice, then when I joined in 2021, I wasn't even really advanced whatsoever. From 2021 to 2025 it certainly was a huge leap forwards

not because of the server but yeah, it's kinda funny that I've been here for so long

[dense pulsar]

no

[umbral hare]

hello

good morning

Is anyone there ?

[trail ridge]

👋🏻

[boreal ingot]

Do you think I should keep the advanced role or demote myself to intermediate? As you've already crossed this gap from high intermediate to fluent and have recognised your having done so, you likely are the best judge of whereat along this gap I am

[boreal ingot]

Is 'than their left heel' here very literal, 'They knew no more French than their left heel knew', or is this some sort of idiom I can't find anything about?

[high oak]

it isn’t an idiom, it’s just a funny way to say the kids knew zero french
like their left heel would
figurative comparison

[boreal ingot]

Alrighty alrighty, many thanks

[high oak]

[dense oasis]

you can as well just be ultra-fluent

you certainly know more words than I do

[boreal ingot]

Oh my!

Thank you 💜

I guess I'll use the fluent role

dummy

I interpret this as meaning 'still is getting read/still has the pleasure of getting read', but I'm a bit curious as to what exactly 'entertain' means there. Is it a sort of metaphor where the work is personified as entertaning, that is, receiving as a guest, the action of reading, or is it another meaning of the word 'entertain'?

[dense oasis]

probably one of these I think

Maybe it is inviting you to read it

[boreal ingot]

Yeah, the guess I gave is the first sense here

entertain as in host/receive as guest

so it 'hosts' reading still

[dense oasis]

writing in Latin then translating into French then translating into English is wild

[boreal ingot]

it's just a metaphor?

[boreal ingot]

ye lol

[dense oasis]

I think so

Or maybe idk. For me it's like "is entertaining reading" so it invites you to read it

but this might not be the case

it's probably like you think

[boreal ingot]

Idk I don't really see how that would be the case

Perhaps it is a meaning of the word of which I am not aware that you use to interpret the sentence thus

[boreal ingot]

What does the underlined bit mean?

[acoustic geyser]

Yo

How do I use suppose for hypothetical in present?

With past form?

[placid fern]

I AM LOOKING FOR A NATIVE ENGLISH MANDATORY WHO WANTS TO LEARN FRENCH WITH WHOM I CAN EXCHANGE ON CALL 1-1 ✅

[boreal ingot]

Yeah, most often you'll hear it used thus:

Suppose we went over there and killed that man, what then?
Suppose a God existed, how would that affect this situation?

But when using 'be', you'll hear 'were' more than you will 'was'

Suppose that were true, why would it matter?
Suppose this lady were in fact guily of an awful crime, how would that change the fact she's a lady?

[boreal ingot]

Another question: is this how you interpret the bit between the two red lines?

But, bad as the speech of Normandy might come to appear as compared with that of Paris, it would naturally seem far worse [as compared] with that dialect [, that of Paris,] after it had been transported to England, and cut off from direct communication with the same dialect [, that of Normandy,] on the Continent.
Or this?
But, bad as the speech of Normandy might come to appear as compared with that of Paris, it would naturally seem far worse [as compared] with that dialect [, that of Normandy,] after it had been transported to England, and cut off from direct communication with the same dialect [, that of Normandy,] on the Continent.

Note for context: after Norman French, the French of Normandy, spoken by the Norsemen who lived there, was transported to England in the Norman Conquest of 1066, it evolved into what is known as Anglo-Norman French.

I'm more inclined to say the first interpretation makes more sense, but I'd like others' input on the matter

[acoustic geyser]

We use suppose like conditional unreal?

[boreal ingot]

Yes, 'imagine this [untrue or not known to be true] situation is true'

Suppose that the building needed fixing, who would pay for that?
If the building needed fixing, who would pay for that?

It's like that conditional

Suppose that [x] equaled 7; it would follow that [y], being [x] + 2, equals 9.
If [x] equaled 7, it would follow that [y], being [x] + 2, equals 9.

[teal locust]

Is it necessary to use perfect example sentences "aka perfect structures" when learning new vocabulary? or are clumsy ones enough?

[boreal ingot]

I feel that so long as the sentence properly employs the word and has sufficient context, it would work

It needn't be otherwise perfect

[grizzled spade]

Your group is on a 1 day streak! 🔥 Here are yesterday's results:
👑 5/6: @hoary lichen

[hoary lichen]

Thank you

now be quiet wordle

[boreal ingot]

lol

[flat rune]

i'm english teacher. ask your questions.

[inland ether]

Bro why we don't use was in this because "lady" is not ladies and I don't understand about why "were" is use in true.
Pls explain this

[flat rune]

4real. There have to be "was"

were it's when two or plus people

[boreal ingot]

In English, verbs don't have a special subjunctive form. In the present we use the base form, and in the past we use the normal past form. However, the past subjunctive form of 'be' is 'were'

[flat rune]

why "lady was in fact ..." aint right?

it does make any sense from grammar point?

[inland ether]

Yeah true I am so confused

[inland ether]

Mam can u tell the name of special subjunctive

[flat rune]

and also why english people always use a big I between space

stupid

never used to it

[boreal ingot]

In English, the subjunctive mood isn't marked differently. We either use the bare-infinitive verb for the present subjunctive:

I demand he be there.
Treat the wound lest it fester.
If he be a foe to us, smite him speedily.
And the past form of the verb for the past subjunctive:
If you ate, you wouldn't in the hospital.
If you became tall, what would you do?

In other languages, those have forms that are different from the infinitive and past forms

However, we have one verb that has a distinct form for the past subjunctive: 'be'
We use 'were' in all cases

If you were taller, you could reach that shelf!
It seemed as though she were a ghost.

The subjunctive is not always used in English. Sometimes it sounds archaic, sometimes it's more natural. Americans are more inclined to use it than Brits

I suggest he be here.
I suggest he should be here.

[boreal ingot]

The first person singular pronoun should be capitalised. It's been being capitalised since the 1200s, though that slowly became common, not at once. This is the reason given by Etymonline:

We also think of it more as marking the importance of the word that refers to the speaker these days

[boreal ingot]

Question ^

[acoustic geyser]

Hello
Can I use both what if and suppose with the present tense if I talk about something likely in the present?

What if/suppose she hides under the bed
She might hide there

[dense oasis]

"what if I suppose she hides under the bed" makes sense, but it does not mean the same as "I suppose she hides under the bed"

like, the first sentence means exactly what it says, "what if I suppose...". So you wonder what would happen if you supposed this

[boreal ingot]

Yea that would be grammatial I think

I don't know whether it's prescriptively supported or rejected, but that's something you hear people say

What if she hides under the bed and gets eaten by a spider?

[boreal ingot]

Question ^

[high oak]

the focus here is totally on the norman dialect, not the paris one

It’s like saying, "he’s looking even worse with that appearance (his, obviously)"

[signal shell]

I vote the same thing. First interpretation.

[grizzled spade]

justacat was playing

[bronze lion]

i'm a native speaker and can't understand which is correct

scenario :
let's say i call a movie i made "Amazing"
this makes sense because it is just a single word and adjective

now what if i wanted to call it "Lion Hearted"
do I actually call it "Lion-Hearted" or is hyphen not appropriate ? in other words, to hyphenate compound adjective or not

"he was lion hearted" (adjective modifies noun before it)
"he met a lion-hearted tom" (adjective precedes noun)

so, if i'm just using a compound adjective in a title, do I hyphenate or not ??

[lost parcel]

I would hyphenate them as they function as a compound adjective 🤔

[bronze lion]

so are compound adjectives inherently hyphenated

[tardy seal]

Personally, I would simply use "lionhearted" because I follow CMOS and Merriam

but "lion-hearted" is also correct

[bronze lion]

cmos says to actually make them compounded?

does that mean without hyphen it's incorrect

[tardy seal]

cmos uses merriam which suggests "lionhearted." no hyphen, no space

[bronze lion]

kk

[dense pulsar]

Hello!
**I need an answer as a matter of urgency pleaaase ^-^ **
The professor said that dirty water had mixed with clean water and that had made people feel ill.
The book asks to rewrite the sentence from reporting speech to the original speech.
this is the conversed operation of figuring out the reported speech.
**My answer: ** Dirty water had mixed with clean water and this made people feel ill.

I suppose that for had made Past Participle is the best choice as it illustrates an action which happened before another thing in the past and it is a reason of making people ill.
**My teacher's answer: **Dirty water has mixed with clean water and this has made people feel ill.

- Is my answer more precise?

[grizzled spade]

Nobody got yesterday's Wordle... but today is a new day @verbal dune 🌞

[grizzled spade]

Dulcet ❀ was playing

[dense pulsar]

@molten venture someone is using a bot in this chat

[umbral wharf]

lol I just saw the thing show up and wanted to try it sorry

[latent reef]

From a native perspective I would consider your answer to be used if it is in the past and the water has been fixed, while the teachers feels more ongoing and still people are ill

[dense pulsar]

Thanks for the help! ❤️

[sudden hare]

Does the following sound natural: “i dropped wisdom on a lonely school kid”?

Is wisdom ‘dropped’, ‘offered’, ‘shared’, or what?

[latent reef]

I think it would work if the wisdom was something the kids didn't want to hear, "dropping" would be used where the person receiving didn't really want it at the moment or if it was a surprise

Offered/shared would be more typical uses if talking about wisdom

[sudden hare]

I see

[flat rune]

great grammar dude

[latent reef]

Trying to be sarcastic or genuine?

[visual crystal]

Guys what is the best method to learn english faster
Is it save word or sentence ?

[wild pebble]

Just write dictations and learn words, also now days there are many ai’s they help you learn

Also what is good is communication, I learned a lot from just playing video games and talking

And chatting and remembering the words

[warm ridge]

homie was on the gameshow grind

classic strat

[flat rune]

genuine bro

[celest condor]

It helps to talk about stuff you like. Have a conversation with someone where they teach you new facts about something in english. You want to reason or think not just communicate

[boreal ingot]

Books

[mint onyx]

I wanna study IELT where can I study p2p 🙏🥺

[dry estuary]

what's the difference between "psychological" and "mental"?

[dense pulsar]

Hello!

Ali ................... that he hadn't taken the money.

a) denied b) explained c) insisted d)ordered

I would choose c) insisted

but i don't know exactly

can someone please help

[latent reef]

Mental is more a casual term when talking about the mind.
Psychological is more of an academic or clinical context especially when it is about emotions or behaviour

[latent reef]

Is there a wider context?

[dense pulsar]

Sadly no
It's taken from my book

A multiple choice question

🥺

[latent reef]

D) I don't think I would ever use
C) if someone asked for money and Ali didn't have any money
B) would be my guess as it is the most general
A) is a double negative, so would be used if Ali did have money when someone assumed he had none

[dense pulsar]

regarding c)
I choose c) as I interpreted it as "actively defensing against the claim that he had stolen money"

can it be correct?

[latent reef]

Oh yeah ignore what I said, I miss read the question

Yeah it is either b or c but then it becomes context after

But your reason for c is a good one

[dense pulsar]

np

[dense pulsar]

thanks brother ❤️

for the help

[latent reef]

No worries, any time

[grizzled spade]

Your group is on a 1 day streak! 🔥 Here are yesterday's results:
👑 4/6: @umbral wharf

[robust bone]

why do they speak english in Westeros?

did the british colonize it too?

[acoustic geyser]

Yo

Is Past Perfect Continuous the same as Past Perfect simple, like Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous?

[acoustic geyser]

Aren't they British?

[dense oasis]

none of these are the same

they're similar but they're not the same

[acoustic geyser]

I mean the meaning