Search results for 'tag:American' matching tag 'American'

Vocabulary exercise 56

successor — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:33:39 GMT

Hello, I composed a vocabulary exercise. Could you please tell me if you agree with the suggested answers? What do you think of the level of this exercise? Thank you! 1. The crowds lingering on the streets were …………………. by heavy rain. A.dislocated B.deposed C.detached D.dispersed 2. The earliest American composers ………………….. their attention to settings of hymns and patriotic songs. A.contained B.confined <

Letter of motivation

nik24 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:36:54 GMT

Hello! I'm writing a letter of motivation to our local office for international relations. So I have to convince them to accept me and to arrange an exchange with an American university. This is a very raw version but I would appreciate it if you could help me rephrase some sentences and add possible important details. Should I include personal interests like sports, movies etc.? Thanks! StartFragment > Letter of Motivation Dear Sirs and Madams, (overall goals) I am hereby applying for a year abroad either through Joint Study or ISEP. My goal is to further widen my business knowledge and get new perspectives by studying a year abroad. After my graduation in...

Re: If

michals — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:05:31 GMT

yes, I often 'hear' the lack of if in American movies. The example that comes from Once upon a time in America says: "She talks to me once more, I'm gonna give her what she's asking for". As you see, no 'if' at the beginning.

Re: Usage of "enter into it"

john claset — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:16:42 GMT

I'm a native American speaker, and many people would find that saying quite odd. There is a saying that is similar though. Here's how I would say it. 1. I passed my driving test because I prepared all too well. Luck has nothing to do with it. 2. They are always asking me how studious a student should be to prepare for the finals, and I shrug my shoulders everytime because in my book studiousness has nothing to do with it.

Re: To whom + belong

khoff — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:20:07 GMT

You've already said "to," at the beginning. Don't repeat it at the end. But you need to add "does": To whom does this pen belong? Now, I should let you know that while that sentece is quite correct, it sounds very formal. In conversation, most people (at least most Americans) would say, "Who does this pen belong to?" (which is not actually correct, but very common, even among well-educated people.) A good compromise is "Whose pen is this?" It's correct, very natural, and avoids the who/whom question entirely.

Re: Sewn clothes

philip — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:22:28 GMT

Philip, Thanks. What is the common expression in American English? I thought I answered that in my previous answer. Is there something I could explain better?

Re: do re mi or C D E?

philip — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:20:18 GMT

And to think that most American public schools have eliminated even the most basic of music classes.

Re: Which is the correct form: "have you gone" or "have you went"

mister micawber — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:06:49 GMT

This is a classic case of Google Search revealing just how many illiterates are posting on the internet nowadays. Google results are always a bit suspect, but this is the worst case I have ever seen! A much better test is from a respectable corpus like this one: http://www.americancorpus.org/ . The American Corpus gives me: Have you gone - 145 Have you went - 0

Re: Struggling with these 4 sentences need help with grammar

avangi — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:04:29 GMT

1 Pushing your dentist appointment back a month will not only affect the alignment of your teeth but you'll be pushing the end day of treatment back a month. The less you tighten the braces the less staight your teeth become in a shorter timeframe. 2 My big purchase didn't go unnotice d . I felt it. It set me back , really hurting and really hurt my budget. Congratulations on the short sentences! Sometimes they're what's needed. I prefer the participial phrase here. It functions to explain "It set me back." Your version makes it sound like two different ideas. 3 The jury will pick who they think is the best and wins. I suppose this is grammatically possible, but it's logically redundant....

Struggling with these 4 sentences need help with grammar

alc24 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:26:52 GMT

Could you please help me with this. I'm struggleing with the structure and grammar. thank you 1 Pushing your dentist appointment back a month will not only affect the alignment of your teeth but you'll be pushing the end day of treatment back a month. The less you tighten the braces the less staight your teeth become in a shorter timeframe. 2 My big purchase didn't go unnotice. I felt it. It set me back and really hurt my budget. 3 The jury will pick who they think is the best and wins. 4 He decided to stop using his CB for a week as he didn't know where he was at financially. As everytime you use your CB, the bank doesn't take the amount into account, so your balance is more than it should be....

Re: Sewn clothes

musicgold — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:49:53 GMT

Philip, Thanks. What is the common expression in American English?

Re: Love

mrpernickety — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:36:20 GMT

Ahmed, if he wishes to insult, let him do it-Almost all Americans are like that. He's talking about a thing that doesn't exist. In America it's all about sex . Nothing more. It's a generalisation that makes you out to be very ignorant of American cultute. You'd do well to do research on American culture before casting aspersions on the people you obviously don't know a damn thing about.

Re: Love

keen delight — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:38:56 GMT

Ahmed, if he wishes to insult, let him do it-Almost all Americans are like that. He's talking about a thing that doesn't exist. In America it's all about sex . Nothing more.

Re: Meaning of "Us Gringos ain't all butt-buddies"

doctor d — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:14:22 GMT

This is crude slang. It means "We Americans are not all homosexuals."

Re: Use of mentality in a sentence

gleb_chebrikoff — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:03:30 GMT

Dear friend, while there exists such a word combination ( ie, mentality level ), its use is extremely rare - once in 400 million words, as shown by the Corpus of Contemporary American English, at least. In your example, the word mentality most probably implies the capacity for intelligent thought, but Oxford Dictionary reveals that this meaning of the word is obsolete . Therefore, you'd better try rewording your original idea. As some possible variants have already been proposed, you may choose out of them or find another one which suits your needs. Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

Re: Use of the word "hung"

dimsumexpress — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:09:05 GMT

This is a common confusion even among natives. This link may help clear some of the confusion. http://www.englishrules.com/writing/2005/hanged-or-hung.php Pictures can be hung, but people are always hanged. It's an odd quirk of the English language. Here is a usage note on the word "hang" from the American Heritage Dictionary: Hanged , as a past tense and a past participle of hang , is used in the sense of "to put to death by hanging," as in Frontier courts hanged many a prisoner after a summary trial . A majority of the Usage Panel objects to hung used in this sense. In all other senses of the word, hung is the preferred form as past tense and past participle, as in I hung my child's picture...

Re: Beat or beaten?

philip — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:16:08 GMT

In American English, both are considered correct. In fact, "beat" seems to be more popular than "beaten" in common conversational English. I have a feeling that 'beaten' is used more when there is a physical beating described, with 'beat' in a less physical sense. Such and such has a taste that can't be 'beat'; the victim was seriously 'beaten' about the head and shoulders.

Re: Beat or beaten?

dimsumexpress — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:46:20 GMT

In American English, both are considered correct. In fact, "beat" seems to be more popular than "beaten" in common conversational English. , ,'res','1','','0CAcQFjAA')" href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_number_one_team_was_beat_by_the_Georgia_Bulldogs"> WikiAnswers - What number one team was beat by the Georgia Bulldogs College Football question: What number one team was beat by the Georgia Bulldogs? Florida Gators. wiki.answers.com/.../What_number_one_team_ was_beat_by _the_Georgia_Bulldogs - , ,'clnk','1','')"...

Re: Different than

yankee — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:42:15 GMT

I've been told by British friends that "different to" is basically the British equivalent of the American "different than": Neither is approved of by hardcore prescriptivists, but everybody uses them anyway. The American Heritage Dictionary has a nice usage note on "different than": http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/different

Re: Different than

gleb_chebrikoff — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:56:47 GMT

Dear friend, * London is different of Hong Kong - incorrect; London is different from/to Hong Kong - correct; *In Argentina, Christmas celebrations are completely different as the ones in England - incorrect; In Argentina, Christmas celebrations are completely different from/to the ones in England - correct; (Note that most teachers and careful users prefer from ) ? My new school is very different than the old one - the correctness is questionable; My new school is very different from/to the old one - correct ( Different than is used in American English but is rarely used in British English) Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

Pulses racing, warm tone

user_gary — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:23:59 GMT

His name figures among the top 10 personalities of the tinsel word listed by Filmfare. The other achievement he rates on equal footing is the mention of his work in Black in American Cinematography manual, deemed a Bible in Hollywood. Eminent director Govind Nihlani acknowledging his good work in Black and Time Magazine rating the same film among the top five, were moments to cherish. Time for an interaction with ace cinematographer Ravi K Chandran, who came perilously close to getting a National award for Kannathil Muthamittal. Tough luck for him when the entry was not sent for Ayudha Ezhuthu, inadvertently though. These mundane things hardly seem to disturb an individual, believing that 'you will not get a thing if it was not...

Tinsel word

user_gary — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:10:42 GMT

His name figures among the top 10 personalities of the tinsel word listed by Filmfare. The other achievement he rates on equal footing is the mention of his work in Black in American Cinematography manual, deemed a Bible in Hollywood. I found in the dictionary that "tinsel" means "a thin long shiny material used to decorate in Christmas" but here the meaning doesn't suit.

Re: When to use toward and towards?

avangi — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:52:45 GMT

He means towards is British English, while toward is American English. Hi, I hear a lot of US born "native speakers" of English add the "s," but in the forties, when I was in "grammar school," they gave us 'ell for it.

Re: Quote in title format

doctor d — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:30:54 GMT

American printing convention places the period and the comma always within the quotation marks and colons and semicolons always outside of them.

Materials for natural spoken English

old man gordon — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:35:54 GMT

I have used a textbook for about 10 years: Whaddaya say? by Nina Weinstein. It helps students recognize typical speech patterns and common reductions that Americans use, such as the title phrase "What do you say - whaddaya say" or "for - fer", "your - yer", et al. As far as I know, it hasn't been updated to CD, and I just can't use the casette tapes now that I've gone digital. Do any of you have good materials to recommend?

Say Froggy Jump!

laumont — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:21:12 GMT

Hello, I would like to know the meaning of the phrase "(when I) say froggy, jump". Does it come from a traditional children song or game? I found it on http://www.wrensworld.com/froggyjump.htm . But I also found "say froggy" alone in different websites. Actually I am trying to understand the sencond line of the following stanza of a poem by Harryette Mullen: "sepia bronze mahogany say froggy jump salty jelly in a vise buttered up broke ice" I know that "jump salty" is an African American slang that means "to suddenly become angry". But I am still trying to figure out the possible meanings (and the source of) "say froggy". ...

Re: Coffee-talk...

delmobile — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:33:22 GMT

Tape ourselves - yes, record. Send them to the internet - I guess this is a videotape, so yes, sounds like something like YouTube. Coffee-talk - I've never heard this in my life. But it definitely sounds like the kind of chit-chat one does over coffee on those awful morning shows. The opposite of an intense, intellectual discussion :) (BTW have you ever watched the videos on www.theonion.com? They do spoofs of several different types of TV news shows, and the "morning show" is one of my favorites.) Tackling morning television - "tackling" anything implies that it is a formidable opponent and that you are exerting yourself to fight it, just the way an American football player dives into a tackle with all his...

Re: Seasons

clive — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:30:36 GMT

Hi, can I say "don´t forget to pack a pair of warm hot trousers?" warm trousers - Good for cold weather hot trousers - Sounds like they make you uncomfortable. Perhaps they make you sweat. Better take them off and put on lighter ones that make you feel more comfortable. trousers - British English pants - American English Clive

Re: Spelling

philip — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:20:52 GMT

My American Heritage Dictionary has it listed as one word (although when I went to look it up, I expected to find both). Therefore, I will verify both Clive's answer and mine.

Re: As the match turned on dime

califjim — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:12:37 GMT

Does it mean that the game had taken on a new twist since Federer was behind in the first two sets? Yes. But add the idea of "suddenly". Federer was behind. The match turned on a dime. (=The direction in which the match was headed suddenly changed.) Now Federer was no longer behind. He was ahead. If I am traveling north, and I suddenly change directions and go south, I might say that I turned on a dime. This idiom is sometimes used in advertising cars. It is used to boast about how well the car responds to your steering it. "The car handles so well that you can turn on a dime." (I assume you already know that a dime is a small American coin worth ten cents.) CJ

Re: Correct punctuation in dates

cool breeze — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:27:27 GMT

It depends on whom you ask. I'm sure nearly all Americans would use a comma after May 29 and probably the majority of Britons too. However, some British newspapers such as The Guardian have a dislike for commas in dates and write the date as it is in your post. This is a fairly recent development. On the whole, in British English fewer commas and full stops/periods are used these days than in American English. For example, Mr . Bell looks dated to many Brits and for many years I haven't received a letter beginning with Dear Cool Breeze , from a Brit. Americans still often put a comma where I put it. CB

Re: Exact Word

khoff — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:00:47 GMT

"Intersex" is a word currently used to describe people who have some male characteristics and some female ones, or people who identify with both (or neither) genders. "Androgynous" is another possibility. "Hermaphrodite" is medical term to describe someone who has both male and female genitalia. "Two-spirit" is a term used in some Native American cultures. You could look up these words online and decide which is the closest to the meaning you are looking for. "Genderqueer" is another current term for someone who does not fit either of the traditional genders, but I don't think this is used very widely. Of all these possibilities, my guess is that "intersex" is probably the...

Re: Mockingbird

califjim — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:55:46 GMT

can u explain me what does it mean please Can you please explain what it means? What happened? Did you lose your dictionary? Main Entry: mock·ing·bird Function: noun a common grayish North American bird (Mimus polyglottos) related to the thrashers that is remarkable for its exact imitations of the notes of other birds www.m-w.com CJ

Letter of expression

kbyy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:31:01 GMT

Hi! I have to write a letter of expression to an American college? It's my exam and I have no idea about that. Please HELP ME!!!

Re: Please Could you help me with these sentences I'm struggling

alc24 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:26:47 GMT

thank you Philip, just had 3 questions 4 There are two virtual lines on an esclator, the right side is for people who want the escalator to take them up and the left for people who are in a hurry and walk up the escalator. (isn't the word IMAGINARY and not virtual?) 5 The 2 models are similar, they just came out at one year intervals. Mine is a year old. (can you say "the 2 models came out at one year intervals?) not sure? 6 She has this very cold gaze and a cold face. She's from Ukraine. They all have this cold beauty. (in french people say, elle a une beauté froide?) (is cold face and cold beauty what americans say?) thanks

Re: Usage of "broad strokes"

delmobile — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:08:35 GMT

I think I might use this expression to mean that somebody doesn't focus on details. Whether that would be a compliment or not depends on the issue at hand. You know how Michael is. He likes to do everything in broad strokes. It's up to the rest of us to worry about the petty details, like where the money's going to come from. He has a gift for outlining something with a few broad strokes that give you a complete sense of the project and its goals. Re: queer the pitch - this may be one of the few cases in which you can still employ the once perfectly useful word "queer" without the PC police dragging you off. I'm sure I've heard "queer the deal," which I think is the American version of...

Re: Usage of "broad strokes"

mrpernickety — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:44:00 GMT

Hi, Avangi Thanks for taking pains to explain the phrase, I appreciate your efforts. Have you checked out any of the collected examples of great writing? (I'm afraid I haven't yet honed my skills at using them, in spite of Amy's able coaching.) You mean this mother lode of examples of American writing? www.americancorpus.org If you do, then yes, I checked it out the first thing. To my disappointemnt it is not teeming with examples containing "in broad strokes" - the search I ran turned up all of 37 samples, some of which allude directly to the process of painting, such as this one: he will sweat the specifics for a boss who likes to paint in broad strokes His phrases are crafted...

Usage of "broad strokes"

mrpernickety — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:47:26 GMT

Hi, Is "in broad strokes" a common substitute for "generally, without going into details" in American English? From a native speaker's standpoint, would it sound out of left field if I said these sentences: 1. In broad strokes, when a car rams into a bus stop at high speed people inside the car get badly hurt. 2. In broad strokes, to draw up a contract, you take a sheet of paper and a pen. In detail, you have to have a lawyer nearby and to be in compos mentis to enter any legal agreements. Thank you in advance for assistance!

Re: In everyday conversation, I've gotta go or I gotta go?

madpotatoexpert — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:08:32 GMT

I think have got is British and got / have alone is American. I use the later because I learned American English.

Re: 5 sentences need help with please?

califjim — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:45:17 GMT

1 He is as good (in his time s ) as Micheal Michael Jordan was in his time. At least that ' s what people say. 2 What/Which American doesn't like Baseball baseball ? Everyone does. Too ambiguous. Spell it out. Everyone likes baseball. 3 When I initially scanned through the album earlier this year I hastily passed over it as a novelty. (what does pass over mean?) paid very slight attention to it; looked briefly at it, decided it wasn't worth my time, then ignored it. 4 During a basketball coverage there is as much commercials and breaks as there is basketball . The broadcast lasts 90 minutes , 45 of which are breaks. You have to compare uncountables to uncountables or countables to countables. ... there is as much...

5 sentences need help with please?

alc24 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:32:53 GMT

Could you help me with this please? 1 He is as good in his times as Micheal Jordan was in his time. At least thats what people say. 2 What/Which American doesn't like Baseball? Everyone does. 3 When I initially scanned through the album earlier this year I hastily passed over it as a novelty. (what does pass over mean?) 4 During a basketball coverage there is as much commercials and breaks as there is basketball. The broadcast lasts 90 minutes 45 of which are breaks. 5 You're making my doubt that the food here isn't good. Stop saying stuff like that. thank you

Re: 'Feet' and 'foot', which to use? Distance and measurement.

grammar geek — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:00:08 GMT

Not really. You're right that I probably wouldn't use "yards" for vertical distance. But when to switch from feet to yards or back to feet or to miles is highly individual. I tend to use yards only for distances between about 10 yards and 300 yards. In other words, what you'd envision on a golf course. If you get to the point where you're saying "1000 yards" I'd start talking about fractions of a mile, for example. Less than 10 yards I'd probably talk about feet. A football field (American football) is 100 yards - it's easy for us to envision, which is why people will say things like "as long as four football fields" instead of "400 yards long."

Re: Searching for the best dictionary

kooyeen — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:17:28 GMT

It's Merriam Webster Collegiate for native speakers of American English, and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary for ESL students. The most complete in the world (but also unnecessarily complicated and expensive) seems to be one by Oxford University Press, OED. This is my opinion, so it's up to you whether you want to believe it or not. By the way, I see that you are posting a lot anonymously, if I'm not mistaken. Please consider signing up and joining our community. Just click on "Join our community" to sign up.

Re: The correct usage of got

yankee — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:28:08 GMT

They're all correct, Anon. The word gotten is generally used as the past participle of the verb "get" in American English, and got is used as the past participle in British English. Thus your first sentence seems to be AmE, and the second one seems to be BrE. For the third and fourth sentences, there is no difference between AmE and BrE.

Re: PBS American Masters - Andy Warhol

yankee — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:16:42 GMT

Hi Coloraday I wasn't completely sure about "liars", but it sounds like the word he was saying, and it seems like a good fit in the context. To me, the final sound seems to be a sort of mix of S and Z -- i.e. not clearly one or the other. However, if you listen to the S on the end of the word "queens", you'll notice that he pronounces it the same way. I'd say "Valerie" is probably a reference to a person named Valerie Solanas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Solanas The word before "Valerie" is probably "a", but it could also be just a filler word ("uh").

Re: PBS American Masters - Andy Warhol

coloraday — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:18:36 GMT

(1)Amy,Are you sure about "liars",I can't hear Z-sound there.It's more like a S.sound. And about the last word:Isn't it a gun name?Something which was used in ghettos?'Cause Andy lived there. Thanks

Re: Introducing 'DeepSouthRick'.

deepsouthrick — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:04:51 GMT

Good luck with your English! In the past, I've taught English (technical writing for an American audience) to Russian, Indian, and other software developers at several companies where I've worked. I've found that most native English speakers make just as many mistakes as ESL engineers, but the mistakes are different.

Re: Past form

clive — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:31:53 GMT

Hi, 'Dove' is a feature of American English. It has become so common that it now appears in dictionaries, although mine notes N. Amer. informal . Best wishes, Clive

Introducing 'DeepSouthRick'.

deepsouthrick — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:23:51 GMT

Former newspaper writer and columnist. Currently a technical and corporate feature writer with a major American company. I'm currently working on a personal book project, English for Engineers, which includes ESL sections. I enjoy a love of the English language, both its rules and its exceptions.

Re: I've got / I've gotten?

yankee — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:04:24 GMT

i've got to do something or i've got a sore throat... these are examples of bad grammar slipping into american slang. Sorry, Anon, but the expression "have got to do something" (meaning "must do something") is quite standard and accepted. "Have got" meaning "have" (in the sense of "possess") is also accepted. If you don't believe me, just take a look at some reputable dictionaries, for example. You'll find that none of them consider these expressions to be slang -- or even particularly informal, for that matter. Look at the usage note and also definition 63 (have got to) here, for example: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/have+got?r=66 Speaking of bad language...