English 101

[bathsheba666]

I'm open to corrections too!

I don't know how good my English is exactly. I understand it pretty well, and have no trouble reading, although I misunderstand English far more often than Finnish. However I'm not too good at writing what I think. Simple things might be easy to say, but almost always when I try to write something more complex it feels like there's a wall that I just can't climb over.

One reason for this difficulty might be that I type English much slower than Finnish, and so I try to pack more information to one sentence. The result is that I have sometimes trouble understanding my own text afterwards. Also I used to be little shy on using "fancy" words, even when it could make the writing more accurate and clear. Now I've got over it, and perhaps moved to the other direction and use them too much...

Prepositions and punctuation are hard for me too. I don't know whether I did something in Sunday or at Sunday etc. And I have no faintest idea about the rules of English punctuation.

Ok, if you want correction:
I sometimes have trouble
or
I have trouble sometimes
are both ok, but
I have sometimes trouble
just does not sit lightly on the ear.

pack into

on Sunday

I don't have the faintest idea.....or....I haven't the faintest idea.

Apart from that, I would have no reason to suppose you were not a native English speaker.

 

[Anonymoose]

A couple of British students here manage to mix the two and they sound fine. English is becoming more of an amalgamation as time goes on, and eventually it will all be on dialect. At least that's what it seems like to me.

 

[Winner]

your english is better than that of most czechs i've met, redy.

Which is a tragedy (no offense, redy). If only our version of broken English was funny, like Russian broken English, but it's not even that, it's just pathetic.

 

[eoc]

English tense always confuses me. Especially like this:

I have been learning English for many years. But I still can't use it freely.

The bold part, is it wrong? If it is wrong, how to make it correct?

 

[bathsheba666]

English tense always confuses me. Especially like this:

I have been learning English for many years. But I still can't use it freely.

The bold part, is it wrong? If it is wrong, how to make it correct?

No, s'fine.

 

[Lone Wolf]

I have been learning English for many years. But I still can't use it freely.

It's correct. What's more, using any other tense would've been a mistake.

 

[Karalysia]

Most of you have better grammar, punctuation and spelling than me, despite American being my mother tongue. This is a disgrace.

 

[jessiecat]

I mean it in general. When you see (hear) someone mixing British and American English, does it sound weird? Will it raise an eyebrow?

Imagine how it is for me. I grew up Canada, spent over half my life trying to speak like a North Londoner and have now lived in Cornwall for five years with its strong dialect. People down here can't decide if I'm a Londoner, American or Canadian or even Irish!

 

[Yared]

Hello, because I and some others(http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=344369) want improve their English language, I created this thread. Unlike other 101 threads, there is one advantage - you dont need write bilingualy. There should be some differences between American, Australian and British English, so different views are welcomed.

My experience with English is quite bad. Our class was divided to in for [one] better good and [one] worse bad part, of course that I was in [the] worse bad one. We had nearly every school year In nearly every school year, [we had a] different teacher and besides one teacher from Australia the quality was poor, not in English but in teaching skills. My marks were around C. I am not sure what system you have in Angloamerican world, we have marks 1-5 where 1 is best and 5 is worst, so I presume that you have A-E. In leaving exam I achieved B because good theme{?} (horror and fantasy in English literature). In abroad I was quite young At the times we went abroad, I was very young, when I participated in school trip for [a] week in London my English skills were too low to for me to be able to improve my English. Today I would take advantage I would have benefit[ted] of from that trip much better. In Slavic countries(Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland) I havent [had a] needed for English because in tourist places people could speak basic Czech and even when [they] couldnt, languages were too close [enough]. In [the] other trips I was as [a] small child without any foreign language skills (Italy, Switzerland) or [there] for [a] very short time(Austria, Germany). In university there were some other exams. Translation of 150 pages to Czech (I chose [a] history book about John of Gaunt, maybe you noted remember that I asked for help there here), discussion with native speaker (we had terrible raw [brawl(?)] about America´s role in world, so he rather wrote my mark to not meet me again) and abstract{what you trying to say here?} from lectures in English. There are few English courses, its quite problem hard [to] get there here and its too boring.

Please fix

Okay, so the first thing you got to know is that if you use two verbs after each other (for example, you're saying "want improve") you're suppose to add "to" after it.

So, it's supposed to be "want to improve".

Second of all, I think you're confusing There with Here. Do you know the differences?

I corrected it by using look here and putting some phrases in [].

Just went through it fast so I might have overlooked something.

 

[scherbchen]

how was this thread not created sooner? so simple yet brilliant at the same time....

 

[REDY]

Thanks to all. I am reading your revisions carefully. Some dont understand what I have wanted to say.
Our class was divided to better and worse part Our class was divided to two others, one with good English skills and one with bad English skills, each had one teacher.
abstract from lectures in English - I have meant that I had to write Czech abstracts(resumes, roundups?) from English lectures(courses, lessons?)
so he rather wrote my mark to not meet me again - Teacher didn´t force me to make exam again, unlike he did with some other students.
maybe you noted that I asked for help there - I have meant "noted" as registered, spotted? But fix "you remember" clears confusion.

In Russia, BTW, it's 5 which is the best and 1 which is the worst.

That´s one of few things about Russian schooling system which I know

It depends on the difference between "few" and "a few". "Few" means "very small, unacceptable amount", while "a few" means "a satisfactory amount".

With my frequency of using "a" and "an" there is not alternative Its very sad that I dont know how to use it and I will have to learn this part of English from the beginning But I have meant "few".

I am sure that this post needs revision too.

 

[Earthling]

how was this thread not created sooner? so simple yet brilliant at the same time....

Well, I'd be happy to peruse the thread and help with obvious questions, idioms and other inquiries. I suspect, though, there was a high concern the thread would devolve into bickering between US and UK (or Canada/NZ/Australia/etc...) posters all "correcting" each other when they spell "color" wrong. Only time may tell if this wioll haven been true, but if I'm not right, it'll be a frabjous day indeed.

 

[scherbchen]

well, some of us foreigners actually delight in the differences between, say, UK and US English. maybe I am just odd, though. by the amount of points (? periods?) I am using you can tell I am German and it is a constant struggle to not use them constantly and to keep the sentences shortish and concise, which, obviously, I just failed to do, ye ken?

must use more ","!

 

[Arwon]

BTW, how weird is that when someone mixes up British and American English? I am afraid my brain isn't capable of keeping the two entirely separate.

I'm Australian so we kind of mix the two any way. Some Australian standards are British (colour, couldn't care less), some are American (jail, hi, have a nice day!), some are different altogether (rort, capsicum).

Mixing standards is fine, the standards are a little artificial anyway.

 

[mangxema]

Corrected the lack of alpha-verb missed by Gelion.

Wait... what?

 

[Lone Wolf]

Wait... what?

That's how I call the verbs that have a purely grammatical function (Do you have a dog, Have you seen her recently).

 

[mangxema]

Those are only used in questions though, at least before a subject like that. (Do and have are perfectly good verbs.) What you 'corrected' was not a question.

 

[Lone Wolf]

So, is the "I'm not sure what system you have" construct valid?

 

[Agent327]

So, is the "I'm not sure what system you have" construct valid?

"I'm not sure what system you have" is actually correct (no use for do in there), although "I'm not sure what system you use" (or "are using" or "have in use") would be better, as English speakers wouldn't use a phrase like "what system you have".

"So, is the "I'm not sure what system you have" construct valid?" isn't a good sentence, however. I'd say construction (construct is rather used in a different context) and "valid" isn't used with reference to grammar; something is either correct or incorrect (again, valid is rather used in a different context.)

In general it would be advisable if native speakers correct other posters' posts.

BTW, nice thread!

 

[Bill3000]

That's how I call the verbs that have a purely grammatical function (Do you have a dog, Have you seen her recently).

The correct term is auxiliary verb, FYI.

Also, the do that you added there is optional; it can be dropped. "Do" there is a dummy verb, and is used for emphasis in affirmative sentences; normally it's dropped. It's not optional when you need to invert the verb for a question. It isn't ungrammatical, however.