Viggen Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 I am not a native speaker but i believe my english is ok, however a very well known phenomenon is taking place, one gets comfortable with phrases and simple texts, errors that developed over times have established themselves and are repeated over and over again, and that limits sometimes the expression (and i dont like that). So this thread is for all non native speaker of the english language like myself (or anyone else who likes to expand his vocabulary) to get to get some help from the "experts" like Panthagatus or Pertinax that lash out words on a regular base that i never heard of before. I didnt like that at first, (at is was work to look up those damm words in the dictionary), but slowly i started to appreciate this... So lesson one, what are the most common spelling errors in the english language? (hey i just discovered aggrandize, a word i never used before) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spittle Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 Whats your 'mother tongue', Viggen? The 'RULES' of English (such as 'I before E except after C) regularly contradict themselves and this leads to mistakes. Spellcheckers and mobile phone text message predictors have made me complacent with my substandard writing abilities. Attempting to participate on forums, such as this, have made me acknowledge that I am only half literate but by joining in I practise my writing skills and feel that improvements occur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Pilus Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 Here's a couple of little problems that I've noticed can get interchanged somewhat frequently... quite and quiet quite=an adverb to emphasize the verb. i.e. I am quite happy about the Tigers making the baseball playoffs. quiet=opposite of loud lose, loser, loose, looser. These are also often incorrectly interchanged. lose = opposite of win loose = opposite of tight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spittle Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 I never know when to use 'has' or 'as'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Favonius Cornelius Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 I never know when to use 'has' or 'as'. 'Has' is present possessive. He has the plague, she has the apple. 'As' is a totally different word, meaning 'like.' Her hair was flaxen blond just like the grain fields of Aquitania. Her hair is just as flaxen blond as the grain fields of Aquitania. English is tough. There is a lot of word usage which can only be properly used with a lot of experience. I hear Protugese is worse though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLavius Valerius Constantinus Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 (edited) The only grammatical thing I find very discourage in English is discerning between a participle and gerund. Unlike Latin whose forms are easy to distinguish, english confusingly just uses -ing for both. Oh by the way, here's a fun word: SWASHBUCKLER - kind of person who is adventurous like Indiana Jones. Damsel in distress (pretty common but fun to use)- A woman(or maybe soft men) who needs aid. Edited October 5, 2006 by FLavius Valerius Constantinus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 English is tough. There is a lot of word usage which can only be properly used with a lot of experience. I hear Protugese is worse though. Eh, I found it easy, but I learned it after I was already fluent in Spanish and Italian. But, like any other skill, language has easy moments and difficult ones; one must practice the skill all the time, in order to hone it and master it. Language is like any other skill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viggen Posted October 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Thanks for all the replies Ok, here i have a questions, one of the phrases i regulary us in conversations is... I don`t want to be difficult but... any other ways to get the message across? cheers viggen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Favonius Cornelius Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 English is tough. There is a lot of word usage which can only be properly used with a lot of experience. I hear Protugese is worse though. Eh, I found it easy, but I learned it after I was already fluent in Spanish and Italian. But, like any other skill, language has easy moments and difficult ones; one must practice the skill all the time, in order to hone it and master it. Language is like any other skill. Really? I visited Brazil last year, and my friends went on and on about how many absurd tenses they had to deal with. In the end I cannot help but wonder if a language is capable of more beauty the more complex it is. Surely the Brazilian woman embodied that for me! Ok, here i have a questions, one of the phrases i regulary us in conversations is... Ok, here I have a question, one of the phrases I regularly use in conversation is... I don`t want to be difficult but... Depends on what exactly you mean honestly. Do you mean you don't want to be socially difficult, or do you mean you don't mean to be confusing on the topic of discussion? I admire bilingual or multilungual people. They have something I'll never have; I squandered my four years of language on Latin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viggen Posted October 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 I mean ... not to be confusing on the topic of discussion... oh, btw spittle, my mother tongue is german (although Germans doubt that when they here me), i am from Austria! cheers viggen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Dalby Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 I admire bilingual or multilungual people. They have something I'll never have; I squandered my four years of language on Latin. I see what you mean, Favonius. There aren't many people around to appreciate one's Latin-speaking ability Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Dalby Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 I don't want to be difficult, but ...'' I mean ... not to be confusing on the topic of discussion... I don't know if you intend this, Viggen, but this is one of those expressions (there are many in English, and maybe in other highly-civilised [ ] languages) that you use when you actually mean the opposite. I don't want to hurt you, but ... I don't want to speak out of turn, but ... Listeners know perfectly well that the honest end to the sentence would be ... but I'm going to do it anyway! In the same way, I don't want to be difficult, but ... is likely to precede some waspish little remark which actually makes finding a solution or a compromise more difficult than before. Alternatives, then. I don't want to be awkward, but ... is maybe better than "difficult" because it doesn't have the ambiguity pointed out by Favonius. More choices: I don't want to throw a spanner in the works, but ...; You're going to hate me for saying this, but ...; It isn't as easy as that, because ... There are some thoughts from me. Others may disagree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 I don't know if you intend this, Viggen, but this is one of those expressions (there are many in English, and maybe in other highly-civilised [ ] languages) that you use when you actually mean the opposite. I don't want to hurt you, but ... I don't want to speak out of turn, but ... Listeners know perfectly well that the honest end to the sentence would be ... but I'm going to do it anyway! In the same way, I don't want to be difficult, but ... is likely to precede some waspish little remark which actually makes finding a solution or a compromise more difficult than before. Alternatives, then. I don't want to be awkward, but ... is maybe better than "difficult" because it doesn't have the ambiguity pointed out by Favonius. More choices: I don't want to throw a spanner in the works, but ...; You're going to hate me for saying this, but ...; It isn't as easy as that, because ... There are some thoughts from me. Others may disagree. Right, AD...in pragmatics and discourse analysis, they're considered softeners or contrary politeness markers. The speaker uses these phrases to potentially mitigate any ill-will that could be (mis)construed by the statement which follows it. The context is the crucial aspect; most often these phrases are used by a person in an 'inferior' social position (e.g. an employee talking to a boss, a student talking to a professor) or simply to not try to offend the listener. Of course, there are other uses--to manipulate the audience's perception of the speaker, for exampmle--but that's the basic one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viggen Posted October 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2006 I don't want to be difficult, but ...'' I mean ... not to be confusing on the topic of discussion... I don't know if you intend this, Viggen, but this is one of those expressions (there are many in English, and maybe in other highly-civilised [ ] languages) that you use when you actually mean the opposite. I don't want to hurt you, but ... I don't want to speak out of turn, but ... Listeners know perfectly well that the honest end to the sentence would be ... but I'm going to do it anyway! In the same way, I don't want to be difficult, but ... is likely to precede some waspish little remark which actually makes finding a solution or a compromise more difficult than before. Alternatives, then. I don't want to be awkward, but ... is maybe better than "difficult" because it doesn't have the ambiguity pointed out by Favonius. More choices: I don't want to throw a spanner in the works, but ...; You're going to hate me for saying this, but ...; It isn't as easy as that, because ... There are some thoughts from me. Others may disagree. I don`t want to be awkward, but shouldn`t it be Peregrination instead of Perigrination? ...would that be acceptable? cheers viggen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonlapse Posted October 7, 2006 Report Share Posted October 7, 2006 one of the phrases i regulary us in conversations is... I don`t want to be difficult but... *chuckles* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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