English Study Thread - Polish your forums communication skills!

[LB56]

Yes we English have created some strange slang terms. Anyone know any Cockney Rhyming Slang?

Here's a few Ive heard before:

"Artful Dodger" - Lodger

"Barbed wired" - Tired

"Giraffe" - Laugh e.g. "You're having a giraffe"

"Macaroni" - Pony (slang for £25)

We're know for using a lot of idioms/similes in the southeastern United States. Here are some that I use:

That dawg won't hunt- That isn't good enough

It's colder than a witch's ___ out here!- self-explanatory

That's slower than molasses flowing uphill on a cold day- ...again self-explanatory (molasses is a thick syrup for those who don't know)

I'm sweatin' like a wh_re in church- It's hot, and I'm sweating profusely

That was mighty white of him- That was very kind

[Punky fish]

Enklantii....

Nice thread. Well, I've been studying English in school for five years now. And I have almost perfect grades. Still, I don't understand everything you say here. But I understand most of it.
Also my mother is a English teacher (food and kitchen things) and now I know what rutabaga means (and whats the difference between to cube and to dice). And my big brother had the best score in the english test that everyone (in the 9th grade) made. Our english teacher thought we lived in America for few years because my brothers accent is almost perfect (well, mine too).
It was really weird when I saw a letter in our school where someone from america had written "where" to where he was supposed to write "wear".

[shinsengumi]

i don't understand most of the shortcuts people use.I just know two of them;
btw-by the way
imo-in my opinion
but there're lots of others people use very often.If you know any other,can you note them for me?
(i know,this is not a question about the grammer but i lack understanding what's written so imo ( ) it still counts)

[eni]

shinsengummi, look over this one:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_d...en_(Netzjargon)

[zerocharisma]

Just something interesting here..... (by the way, that is not even a sentence, it's just a phrase)

I live with my siblings and parents, whom you have met before.
I live with my parents and siblings, whom you have met before.
I live with my parents and siblings whom you have met before.
I live with my siblings and parents whom you have met before.

I had my grammar class earlier on and I was intrigued to know the response from all of you regarding those 4 sentences above. What do they mean? I had a great time listening to all the debating and discussion about those 4 sentences so I just want to share them with you. XD

For those of you who want to know the explanation to those 4 sentences, here you go.

Sentence one actually tells us that "I" is living with his siblings and his parents, and we have met his parents.
Sentence 2 tells us that "I" is living with his siblings and his parents, and we have met his siblings.
Sentence 3 and sentence 4 are the same.
They tell us that "I" live with his parents and his siblings, and we have met both his parents and siblings.

Interesting?

One more detail about the above; when I write the sentence without the comma, I indicate that the siblings and parents (or vice versa) with which I am living are the ones you have met, as opposed to those which you have not met. Including the comma indicates that, oh by the way, you have met them before.

---

When I was teaching English, this confused most students: What is a comma splice and how do you fix it?

z.

[lordkaly]

hi someone is here?
i'm learning english and this post has inspired me..i am reading nodame's manga in english..so i need to improve my level of english---thanks

[Delbi]

It was really weird when I saw a letter in our school where someone from america had written "where" to where he was supposed to write "wear".

You'd be surprised at how inept most Americans are at using the English language

In any event, it's very common for people who study a language that isn't their own to acutally be better at using it the proper way than those of whom are native to said language. My friend was a A+ Spanish student in high school and is now double majoring Spanish with Political Science. He went to study abroad in Mexico earlier this year, and even though he is fluent in Spanish, he still had difficulty speaking with many people due to different dialects, misponuciation, etc.

Most people native to their own language butcher it with the use of slang, mispronunciation, verb confusion, etc. I for one have a New York accent and attend school in the Southern United States. When I try and communicate with some of my classmates it's like we're speaking two difference languages lol. I'm also told on a regular basis that I don't know how to pronounce words or speak the correct way because of my accent lol.

[Dash4]

When people want to read they are recommended to read a book that is appropriate to their abilities.
However, what does that actually mean?
How do you measure someone's reading ability?

[GEshode]

Well, when i want to read a book in a foreign language I take a look inside of it an see if i understand about two-thirds of a page if that is the case, then I probably would say it is appropriate to my abilities, because I can understand the major plot, but there is still something I can learn from the book. If two-thirds are not okay with you, maybe three-fourths are the way to go...

[Dash4]

Fair enough.I suppose if I could read less than 2/3rd of the book I should go out there and get more experience first.Thanks for the reply.

[BP123]

lol - laughing out loud
wtf - what the f*&@
lmao - laughing my ass off
nsfw - not safe for work (don't open at work or you might get fired
brb - be right back (I'll be be back in a minute)
ttyl - talk to you later

[rafazildo]

I had a teacher who said he was once in a congress.
there were people of many countries, all of them speaking english.

surprisingly they had almost no difficult in understanding what each other was saying, but had trouble when the native english spokers were talking...

----------
I try my best to write accordingly with the grammatical rules and stuff. But it's difficult.

On the other hand, it seens that in english, one have more freedom on the way of speaking/writing. I mean, albeit something is written all wrong, it still can be understandable by the others.

[jackitshot]

Hi,buddy, I am learning english
Can I have two questions? About dice, a big red dot on the dice is said as No.1 in english? or what?

And there are someones know or study wordpress for blogs? i am studying it.....

Enjoy yourself!

[antifon]

Hoho, hello there!

Now, I see that the thread is as good as dead, but still I'll try to breathe some life into it.

First to answer the bloke's question: "ace", or "one"; whichever you choose. You could've googled it, though - much faster. Click.

And now to my question So I've recently started to wonder about the usage of "I" and "me", "he" and "him", etc. I read the basic rule regarding this issue, but I still can't figure out which pronoun I should use in sentences like these:

He's older than I.
or
He's older than me.

She's just like me.
or
She's just like I.

In the first case I'd wager on: "He's older than I.", but then again most of the time people say "He's older than me." or "He's older than I am.". Hence my confusion.
And in the second case the sentence "She's just like I." just doesn't sound right to me. At all. But since I'm not a native speaker I cannot really tell what sounds right and what wrong. So help, please.

[kuroihikari]

And now to my question So I've recently started to wonder about the usage of "I" and "me", "he" and "him", etc. I read the basic rule regarding this issue, but I still can't figure out which pronoun I should use in sentences like these:

He's older than I.
or
He's older than me.

She's just like me.
or
She's just like I.

In the first case I'd wager on: "He's older than I.", but then again most of the time people say "He's older than me." or "He's older than I am.". Hence my confusion.
And in the second case the sentence "She's just like I." just doesn't sound right to me. At all. But since I'm not a native speaker I cannot really tell what sounds right and what wrong. So help, please.

I don't have exact references at this point, but I have been taught (a long time ago, around 12-13 years, so the conventions may have changed) that "He's older than me." would be grammatically incorrect. "He is older than I am" is the more complete form, and the "am" is usually discarded, making "He is older than I" the more grammatically correct form.