By Verbs, Idioms

Re: Native-speaker/native language

There's some truth in that article. My parents, for instance, used to speak in Sardinian (not a dialect, but recognised as an endangered language by the UNESCO) when talking to each other or to their relatives, but they would only speak Italian with my brother and me. I grew up monolingual,...

Re: She says what she means and she means what she says

I would say, no. Perhaps if you looked at it as an algebraic equation, you could say both clauses give the same information. A = C = B is the same equation as B = C = A, where "C" is the idea or substance of what she says and means. But meaning and saying are two different verbs and...

Re: idiom VS proverbs

Hi,Here is my question: can a proverb then be an idiom? If I say that I "counted my chickens before they hatched," it is therefore a proverb because we all know that it means not to rely on something before you have it. However, can it not also be an idiom? I was told that if people...

Re: line against/along

The prepositions are both fine and natural, but in AmE we'd add a third, so to speak. We use the expression (idiom) "line up" to form a line. I guess BrE is "que." I don't know if it can stand alone, or if it's "que up," or if I'm spelling it...

Re: phrasal verb

.1-- It takes practice. There are also long lists of phrasal verbs available in grammar texts and ON LINE.2-- Yes, they are a kind of idiom.

Re: Is this right? "have to=have got to=got to"

Hi Jun-god,yes, "got" is sometimes equivalent to "have", not only in the idiom "have got to".I got to do it = I have to do it ---> But usually pronounced I gotta do it.It comes from I've got to do it, without 've. Read CalifJim's post, he explained...

Re: Not only but also

Hi Barb, yes, but that's more related to style and "good writing" than grammar and idiomatic English, isn't it? I think native speakers are very likely to use unbalanced structures in everyday speech... Anyway, I wanted to ask a question about "not only... but also"...

Re: can or could

. CJ

Re: correct sentences 24/11

They won't smoke ever since they saw a film on lung cancer. What does "won't" mean here?

Re: correct sentences 24/11

http://forums.eslcafe.com/student/viewtopic.php?t=22113&highlight=