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  1. #141
    Quote Originally Posted by stream26 View Post
    For me difficult area is collocations (words that are usually used together). They are impossible to explain in most cases but make all the difference. Example: make a mistake - many people say do a mistake.
    Most of those English has in common with most Germanic languages, so if you know enough of those chances are one of them will tell you where those collocations come from. In this case: Since there is a result that you are naming you cannot use to do.
    It becomes clear when you use to do in a question--the answer must be a verb, not a noun (unless you couple it with "whom", but that is not the same verb to do, it just looks the same).

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kuntantee View Post
    Pronunciation of English is the hardest part.
    Yes, especially when English words sneak up on you in other languages.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nixx View Post
    Both of those examples are using singular pronouns. "One" is never plural, just general.
    Indeed, it adresses everyone--but seperately, not as collective.

  2. #142
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    Quote Originally Posted by Noradin View Post
    In this case: Since there is a result that you are naming you cannot use to do.
    Care to explain "do the dishes"?

  3. #143
    The Unstoppable Force Puupi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by belfpala View Post
    1. I never said she stole my money. Maybe someone else said she did.
    2. I never said she stole my money. Maybe I sad bad things but not that.
    3. I never said she stole my money. Maybe I implied it.
    4. I never said she stole my money. Someone else did.
    5. I never said she stole my money. She has it, but not by theft.
    6. I never said she stole my money. It was someone else's.
    7. I never said she stole my money. But she definitely stole my business plan.
    That's not specific to English language. Works in pretty much any other as well.
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i've said i'd like to have one of those bad dragon dildos shaped like a horse, because the shape is nicer than human.
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i was talking about horse cock again, told him to look at your sig.

  4. #144
    The Unstoppable Force Puupi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kangodo View Post
    The difference between then and than.
    When? Then.

    Now you know when to use then.

    I get furious every time I see someone use those improperly. And it happens far too often, especially by native English speakers.
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i've said i'd like to have one of those bad dragon dildos shaped like a horse, because the shape is nicer than human.
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i was talking about horse cock again, told him to look at your sig.

  5. #145
    Pit Lord boyzma's Avatar
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    I'm a native english speaker so have no problems with it. However, I did hear about a friend going to China and found it quite interesting. He was hired to go teach english to Chinese school children. Does he speak Chinese? No. I asked how he was supposed to teach them if he couldn't communicate with them. Repetition, plain and simple. Hold up an apple with one hand, a cue card that says apple in the other and repeat the word apple. Okey dokey...will be interested to see how this goes.

  6. #146
    Quote Originally Posted by boyzma View Post
    I'm a native english speaker so have no problems with it. However, I did hear about a friend going to China and found it quite interesting. He was hired to go teach english to Chinese school children. Does he speak Chinese? No. I asked how he was supposed to teach them if he couldn't communicate with them. Repetition, plain and simple. Hold up an apple with one hand, a cue card that says apple in the other and repeat the word apple. Okey dokey...will be interested to see how this goes.
    Yeah, and judging by how fluent the average Chinese person is in English, all of those teachers are doing a bang up job.....

  7. #147
    Legendary! Wikiy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kangodo View Post
    And when to use who or whom.
    Even the native English-speakers don't know that. And don't even get me started on "whence". Man, the amount of "from whence" you can hear in American (historical or fantasy) movies and TV series... And it's writers writing those scripts.

  8. #148
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nixx View Post
    "Who" is a subject. "Whom" is an object.
    Yeah. I never had issues with "who" and "whom" mostly because my language makes a big deal of subject and object differentiation.

  9. #149
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    Quote Originally Posted by DFTR View Post
    Sorry if this has already been mentioned but English does have this mechanism, although virtually nobody uses it.

    To correctly speak about a general party, we should use 'One'. As in, 'One might have an easier time distinguishing specifics and generals if one abided by this'.
    However, the irony is that this is actually less likely to be understood, as it's no longer taught in schools (to my knowledge), and the vast majority of people I've witnessed will overlook it.
    That usage is "man" in swedish, which isn't equivalent to du/ni. English is like this

    Ni=you
    Du=you

    ni is when talking to several people or if you're very formal. In english you would adress several people as you and a specific person as you, too.
    Last edited by mmoc6608731cf5; 2017-03-26 at 11:20 PM.

  10. #150
    From the grammatical standpoint - the use of articles since my native language doesn't have them.

    In terms of speech and such - understanding all kinds of local slang-concepts and weird accents.
    Quote Originally Posted by UcanDoSht View Post
    Nobody is stopping you to play Elemental casually during questing or raiding #1000 with your disabled mage friends.

  11. #151
    Scarab Lord Frontenac's Avatar
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    For pronounciation, learning the "th", when it should be hard and when it should be soft, and pronouncing the "h." I'm still working on my stressed syllables...

    For conjugaison, learning when to say "I'm walking" and "I walk." Also the final "s" at the end of the indicative present tense at the third person (singular). Say what you want about French conjugaison, but at least, it is precise. In English you often have to rely on context just to know if a verb is at the present tense or past tense...

    For reading, the hardest part is to know how to pronounce the damned words. I mean, in French, we have several ways to write the sound "o" : "o", "au", "eau". But in English, not only one sound can be represented by several letters or group of letters, but the same letters or group of letters can have different sounds. When should I pronounce "i" [ay] or [ee]? Why "laughter" is pronounced [lafter] but "daughter," [dohter]? Why "brood" is, well, [brood], but "blood" is [blod]?

    George Bernhard Shaw said that "English is the easiest language to speak badly." He was right.
    "Je vous répondrai par la bouche de mes canons!"

  12. #152
    Quote Originally Posted by Njorun View Post
    I always struggled with things like hour because I pronounced the h not realizing it should be silent, three vs free, pronouncing the as de, a/an their/they're/there and "you" since english seemingly lack the means to distuingish one person from a general "you".
    Regional variants: "y'all" and "youse guys" :P

    Seriously though the lack of distinction between plural and singular "you" does cause misunderstandings sometimes.

    P.S. Does Swedish not distinguish "f" from "th"? Apparently the "th" sound (soft "th" like in "three", not hard "th" like in "this") is one of the most difficult to master in English, because little kids in English speaking countries often say "free" for "three". Also some adults do, but this is regarded as a very lower class thing and will likely get you cruelly mocked in a lot of places.

    Quote Originally Posted by treclol View Post
    Understanding "gh". Don't even get me started on this one.
    I think it used to be a distinct sound of its own, which fell out of use but the spelling stayed. Even native English speakers get tripped up by this one, if you throw them a now-archaic word like "bough" and they haven't seen it before.

    Quote Originally Posted by Puupi View Post
    Well it is true that it's an odd thing in English language. Considering it's such a key concept in thought and language - it's very weird that you use two words for a single meaning.
    You know I've never really thought about that before, we don't get that from either German or the Romance languages. I wonder why English started using "to be".

    Quote Originally Posted by Maruh View Post
    As a German, I study English and French, and for me there are only some small spelling issues with things like receive, belief, believe, etc. where for some reason "ie" is just flipped around. Occasionally I mess that up.
    I before E except after C.

    But here's ten thousand exceptions to that rule.

    There's literally no pattern, English diphthongs are a giant mess.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skayaq View Post
    For the longest time I would pronounce the k in words starting with kn-
    We don't even remember why we did that anymore.

    Quote Originally Posted by DFTR View Post
    Sorry if this has already been mentioned but English does have this mechanism, although virtually nobody uses it.

    To correctly speak about a general party, we should use 'One'. As in, 'One might have an easier time distinguishing specifics and generals if one abided by this'.
    However, the irony is that this is actually less likely to be understood, as it's no longer taught in schools (to my knowledge), and the vast majority of people I've witnessed will overlook it.
    That's not quite the same as a plural "you" though, that's more of a hypothetical "you".

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sevyvia View Post
    Didn't really have an issue with anything when learning it, but that was like 20 years ago when I started reading English books. Later on, I developed issues with how many letters to put in various words. I wrote hilarious as hillarious for a long while. Embarrassing vs embarassing. A couple others. But I've fixed it up since. Still not perfect, but then, most people aren't perfect even with their native language.
    Double consonants fuck up natives all the time, don't sweat it. It's ilogical :P

    Quote Originally Posted by ashblond View Post
    English is the easiest language I have ever learned.

    The only thing strange is some words' spelling in British English, e.g. centre, metre, etc. I am sure they come directly from French. While this spelling makes sense in French, it makes no sense in its English pronunciation.

    And the American English spelling center, meter, etc. makes much more sense in English pronunciation.
    There was a movement in early America to update the spelling rules in English, ultimately their changes were little more consistent than English itself and many of them fell out of use (eg "thru" instead of "through" though you do still see it on signs occasionally) but a few of them stuck like "center" vs "centre", and thus we have American spelling. Also English used to be all over the place on "-ise" vs. "-ize" but since American English went with "-ize", British English seems to have gravitated towards "-ise" for everything.

    Basically they tried to create one consistent standard, and we wound up with two standards. Typical.
    Quote Originally Posted by Tojara View Post
    Look Batman really isn't an accurate source by any means
    Quote Originally Posted by Hooked View Post
    It is a fact, not just something I made up.

  13. #153
    Quote Originally Posted by boyzma View Post
    I'm a native english speaker so have no problems with it. However, I did hear about a friend going to China and found it quite interesting. He was hired to go teach english to Chinese school children. Does he speak Chinese? No. I asked how he was supposed to teach them if he couldn't communicate with them. Repetition, plain and simple. Hold up an apple with one hand, a cue card that says apple in the other and repeat the word apple. Okey dokey...will be interested to see how this goes.
    That is the same way as how everyone learns his native language when he was a baby/kid.

  14. #154
    Pit Lord boyzma's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ashblond View Post
    That is the same way as how everyone learns his native language when he was a baby/kid.
    No, actually it isn't. I never held up cue cards to my kids/babies or an object. With your native language it comes more naturally because you hear it every day and the brain connects the words at some point. I also never used "baby" talk with my kids. A dog is not a "doggie" cat not a "kitty" it's a friggin cat and dog.

  15. #155
    All those French words, seriously, English is the bastard child of the French language.

  16. #156
    Quote Originally Posted by Mormolyce View Post
    You know I've never really thought about that before, we don't get that from either German or the Romance languages. I wonder why English started using "to be".
    Except... both German and Romance languages do have this feature (as I have explained in a previous post).

  17. #157
    Quote Originally Posted by Maruh View Post
    As a German, I study English and French, and for me there are only some small spelling issues with things like receive, belief, believe, etc. where for some reason "ie" is just flipped around. Occasionally I mess that up.
    "I" before "E" except after "C". That's the "rule". There are a few words which break that rule, but if you remember that you'll get it right most of the time.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wildtree View Post
    Queue isn't an English word. It's French. Derived from Latin
    You could say that about a lot of "English" words. English is a very bastardized language.

  18. #158
    Quote Originally Posted by Docturphil View Post
    "I" before "E" except after "C". That's the "rule". There are a few words which break that rule, but if you remember that you'll get it right most of the time.
    Yes, it is one of those rules that only make sense if you know the writing style the people used when the rule was created.
    In this case I it might have been because in some old cursive scripts "cie" looks like "ue".

    German had a lot of those, too, and a few of them were really useful, but then they switched to a different alphabet and a generation later people couldn't make heads and tails off it and the rules were partially dropped. Now, there are some cases where you have to guess (know) the pronounciation where before you could tell from how it was written.

    The same happened in English, too, for example things like "ye olde pub". That one contains a silent "e" (from French) and the "y" is just a misunderstood letter that means "th". It is called thorn and looked simmilar to "y" in some fonts, thus it was often substituted with "y" when a font missed it.
    Another letter from Scotland was turned into "z" the same way.
    Last edited by Noradin; 2017-03-29 at 10:48 PM.

  19. #159
    Quote Originally Posted by Docturphil View Post
    You could say that about a lot of "English" words. English is a very bastardized language.
    "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

  20. #160
    Deleted
    Perhaps pronouncing some words containing th. Like using the swedish pronunciation of T instead of th. Like theology or thermostat would become termostat, teology.

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