I guess anyone can almost immediately tell that Clive is a native speaker while I am not, without even listening to the end of the voice recordings. Why is this so? Specifically, these are the "Asian speaker" giveaways: stu dents, labora

While and whilst are conjunctions whose primary meaning is "during the time that". An example is: The days were hot while we were on vacation. I read a magazine whilst I was waiting. While and whilst can nowadays legitimately be

Hi, I booked my place on the long-distance bus for the next day. This is British English, not American English. In the US it's called a bus. In England if it is a local service it's a bus. If it travels further afield, it's a coach.

Hi, I agree with Clive's posting, it should be "She asked where her umbrella was." However, in British English, the other way is fine too, especially if you would like it to sound more formal. You would often read it this way in

Hi there, I can only comment on the British English form, as I am English. Here we would definitely say "if you help me to be happy". However, the meaning of the sentence implies the speaker is not currently happy and therefore another

As a native English speaker, born and living in England, I'd like to confirm that both 'while' and 'whilst' are in common usage in the UK and the previous replies more than adequately describe how to use them. However, as some

To me, the sentence using "keen on" sounds British. (But since I'm American, I'n not sure if it really is common in British English or not.)

The word " sugar " is uncountable  For example, Do you take sugar in your coffee ? While it's countable in British English, Like in the following example How many sugars do you take in your coffee ? As shown is countable, but it has

Of course both those books have CD's. Without CD's those books would be worthless... Both books are especially about intonation, linking words, reduced sounds and something about pronunciation you can hardly find in books on American

I'm finding the heading, and thus the purpose, of this survey confusing. If you don't know what the survey is about yourself or its purpose, how can you describe it in a title? Can you ask for more information before you do this?