In Accents^x, Tenses^x

Englishuser wrote: A non-native speaker who has immersed himself or herself with highbrow literature written in a foreign language could very well have a more vivid vocabulary and a better knowledge of the grammar of the language than the average native speaker. At least as far as the 'standard...

Thank you for your amendments, guys. My manual says that there is a method using which it is in practice easier to define whether a Future tense must be used: if "when" means "when exactly", i.e. a month, day, hour etc., and the logical accent can be made on "when", then a Future tense is...

Each person has his/her own way to learn English. You can learn from books, from watching TV, from taking classes...but the bottom line is: you have to be patient. For me, the best way to learn English is to memorize. It sounds funny but that's the truth. Babies learn how to speak by imitating...

Hiya YC, It sure feels good that a native shows interest in how we perceive english... Let me try to understand the best I can... Specific elements of language posing problem : I'm comfortable with tenses and conjugation. I find myself sometimes troubled with vocabulary and spelling ;...

OED explains 'albeit' like this. albeit, conj. The sun, albeit from a lowly altitude, shone out in full brightness. paco

S have/get O done This construction has three usages from semantic viewpoints: I'd like to buy this. Could you have it delivered? Suffering Sense The accent comes on "done". GET is more common when S has any responsibility of the suffering. (EX-5) He got his...

Sorry, this will probably be a really long post. My mission? To dispell false notions about American English First, we do NOT say "drug" as the past tense of "drag." It's dragged! There are only three kinds of Americans who would say this: Young children who have not yet mastered the...

"Confucius say..." on the other hand, does seem wrong (and maybe racist) to me. It is usually said in a mock Asian accent. I think that is what the incorrect verb tense is supposed to imply. JT: I'm more than a little puzzled, Kumambachi, how one collocation, "long time no see!", which is...

Native speakers say "Hey, long time no see!" all the time so there is not really any harm in using it. I am not really sure as to the origin but I cannot deny that it does seem to smell a little of imperialism. It has become part of the language however. Don't hesitate to use it if you like to...

yesterday." In Chinese, it basically goes "I run yesterday." However, It is very difficult to learn for its 4 major accents (Goes Upwards towards the end of pronunciation for the letter, Starts from High and stays in High, Starts from Low and remains in Low, and Starts from High and ends...