Search results for 'tag:Expressions tag:English vocabulary' matching tags 'Expressions' and 'English vocabulary'

Re: Proficiency alongside "poverty".

Cool Breeze — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:05:04 GMT

Forbes wrote:
Cool Breeze, your English is faultless!

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.

I have been to Thailand many times. I have made a not very sucessful attempt to learn Thai, which is even more analytical than English.

Forbes, in one respect I am more British than you: I have also been to Thailand many times but have never bothered to try and learn the language. I have noticed that they never put an English noun in the plural and that there are some other local peculiarities.

MrP's comment about syntax makes sense to me as well.

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 only in the same position as the adverbs of frequency (often, always, never etc.). I quite often place it elsewhere...

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.

Cheers
CB

Re: looking for a good book for English conversation

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:08:43 GMT

Thank you for the info.
I'm interested in the book(English vocabulary in use).
Is a CD attached to the book?

As a token of my appreciation, let me give you some tips.
I have 'Everyday American English Expressions'(NTC Publishing Group).
This includes a lot of examples of daily English, from how to order a pizza to
how to make emergency calls, from how to shop on the phone to how to request a magazine subscription etc..
With this book, you can survive in the US!
The only downside is that it doesn't provide an attached CD.
I really wish if the publisher put out a CD of the book.

Re: looking for a good book for English conversation

Kooyeen — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 20:42:17 GMT

Hi,
I too have been looking for someting like that! I don't know how many books of this kind there are, but I guess there aren't really a lot, compared to the number grammar books available. Plus, I guess if a student is interested in American English, they'll probaly find less material.
"English vocabulary in use - Basic - Intermediate - Advanced" could be useful books (Cambridge University Press). I don't know exactly what's in those books, but they'll help you learn vocabulary and common expressions. I was only able to find the British English versions (but American English is also available), so I didn't read them...

Re: How to answer a vocabulary question

Englishuser — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:35:02 GMT

Hi Grammar Geek,

Thank you for your reply. Like you said, no one would know all the entries in the OED by heart. That's why I think people should realise that their knowledge of English vocabulary is limited, and the only way of giving satisfactory explanations when people ask about a word is to look it up in the OED. The OED is not availble free of charge online.

Also, it annoys me when native speakers write 'we say' instead of 'English speaking people in the San Fransisco area often say', for instance. I think using 'we' is a bit pompous as very few native speakers are aware of how common a certain expression is in other parts of the English speaking world. This is especially true for rather unusual idioms some people ask about. When a person would like to know what an archaic idiom means, I think you should also state that it's used very rarely amongst native speakers these days. It might also be good to refer to a corpus in such cases.