http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aEnglish+vocabulary+tag%3aAdverbs&tag=English+vocabulary,Adverbs&orTags=0Search results for 'tag:English vocabulary tag:Adverbs' matching tags 'English vocabulary' and 'Adverbs'en-USCSMOD (Build: 3170.31378)http://www.englishforums.com/English/ProficiencyAlongsidePoverty/4/vmwnv/Post.htm#395577Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:05:04 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:395577Cool Breeze<BLOCKQUOTE><table width="85%"><tr><td class="txt4"><img src="/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif">&nbsp;<strong>Forbes wrote:</strong></td></tr><tr><td class="quoteTable"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4"><p>Cool Breeze, your English is faultless!</p> <p>I think that Mr P has hit the nail on the head. In English the complexity resides in the syntax. Many say that English has no "grammar" because you do not need to grapple with conjugations and declensions, but of course if it had no grammar it would just be soup.</p> <p>I have been to Thailand many times. I have made&nbsp;a not very sucessful attempt to learn Thai, which is even more analytical than English. </p></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE><br>Forbes, in one respect I am more British than you: I have also been to Thailand many times but have <b>never</b> bothered to try and learn the language.<img src="/emoticons/emotion-1.gif" alt="Smile [:)]" /> I have noticed that they never put an English noun in the plural and that there are some other local peculiarities. <br><br>MrP's comment about syntax makes sense to me as well.<br><br>Thank you for your comment regarding my English. I wish it were faultless! I think I'm just fairly good at fooling people into thinking it is better than it actually is. I achieve this by using mainly words and expressions I am familiar with, in other words, I use English I have seen or heard before. However, occasionally I step aside from the well-trodden path either inadvertently or on purpose because I feel imprisoned by the obligation or compulsion to sound 'natural'. Maybe I'm something of a nonconformist. For example, I know full well that native speakers like to place <i>only</i> in the same position as the adverbs of frequency (often, always, never etc.). I quite often place it elsewhere...<img src="/emoticons/emotion-1.gif" alt="Smile [:)]" /><br><br>My word power in Finnish is from another planet compared with my English vocabulary. I would never dare to proofread a legal document written in English, for example. But since I don't make many mistakes in what I consider English grammar and I have a good ear that helps me avoid doubtful expressions, I often make an unwarrantedly favourable impression on the reader.<img src="/emoticons/emotion-1.gif" alt="Smile [:)]" /><br><br>Cheers<br>CB<br>