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This is for people who don't have English as their native language. There are many words in English I have to think about before typing them.
'Dungeon', it just seems wrong to me. Did it in a single try but only because I use it as an example. I also tend to type 'there' when I mean 'their', and 'than' when I mean 'then'. There is no cure but trying really hard.
Where do you get it wrong.
This should be interesting. Don't worry about 'there' and 'their', countless English people get those two mixed up, and hardly anyone seems to use 'they're' :shrug:
Probably because that means something else, 'they are' ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Elite Ferret
Yeah, lots of native english speakers also mess up then and than.
What I mean is that people write either 'there' or 'their' when the correct word to use would be 'they're'. I assume this is because they all sound the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fragony
Just teasing yaQuote:
Originally Posted by Elite Ferret
They don't actually sound the same in most dialects. Their and There are inflected slightly differently, They're is actually pronounced very differently.Quote:
Originally Posted by Elite Ferret
Here they are all said exactly the same :shrug:
Yeah, english contractions used to drive my German friends nuts. Especially when speaking with fast-talking northern americans.Quote:
Originally Posted by Philipvs Vallindervs Calicvla
"They're moving their camp over there.", spoken aloud with my Michigan accent = sounds identical, though I admit "they're" should have a longer "ay" sound in the middle to recognize the 'ey' of they.
"Of" is another one that confuses. 'Should've', 'would've', could've' get written as should of, would of & could of, because of the similar sound. Drives me crazy.
Imho English grammar is incredibly straightforward and easy. German and French are much more complicated.
edit, oh spoken
All of this really shows that you should not use contractions. "Should'of" is grammatically nonsensical, but it is the most common mistake children make both speaking and writing. You really have to make sure they don't get the two confused, or it can mean a lifetime of error.Quote:
Originally Posted by KukriKhan
I have an unfair advantage over pretty much everyone in the world though, I have a clerkly (i.e. educated, not posh) Hampshire/Surrey accent; more or less the defnition of "Standard English".
And pronounced "shoulda woulda coulda" :laugh4:Quote:
Originally Posted by KukriKhan
me speak right. yall just wrong
amended.Quote:
Originally Posted by Centurion1
I'm Chinese. Just imagine the transfer between phonetic and character-based......
I also speak a bit of French, Spanish, and German. English, with no genders for words, is unbelievably simple. Of course, we have to balance that out with absurd pronounciation.
"Their", "there" and "they're" and "then" and "than"; I usually spot them when I re-read (thank Tosa for the edit button), but I make many mistakes against those pre-edit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fragony
I usually mix up "hear" and "here" and "where" and "wear" as well and anything else that sounds similar.
About half of this language confuses me.
Spanish is so much simpler
None of you posted a word that conflicts with his native language, although this should've been the topic of this thread, according to the OP. :confused:
That said, I'm incredibly thankful that English in not my mother tongue. It would be a total waste to have it as native language.
Which leads me to the conclusion that nobody really has to dominate English because nobody really cares. Heck you are even so friendly in the U.S. and start to make all signs etc. bilingual in Spanish and English from what I've heard. In fact there's only one place to find English grammar nazis, and that's undoubtedly Germany. Just come over here to learn it right.
- the grammar is so simple, it suffices to learn it at age 90, no need to start as a baby
- English native speakers normally don't care if anyone uses the language right, leading to an incredibly high amount of bad grammar and orthography among speakers, even native ones
- English native speakers normally have no clue about vowels thanks to the incredibly ridiculous pronounciation of their mother tongue
- due to the limited English grammar, it must be really hard for native speakers to learn a foreign language, since these normally tend to have grammar
P.S. I know you will pardon my mistakes, if you spot them.
P.P.S. The most common mistake by native speakers I come across in this forum is "definately" and other ways to write "definitely" wrong. Ah the vowels...
Yeah, English grammar is practically non-existent. In fact, despite all my years of learning French, I basically forget its complicated grammar when speaking it, instead favouring a basic form of pigeon French. Those Quebecois can scowl at my butchering of their mother-tongue all they want; it's the best I can do. :laugh4:
It could still drop the inflection of verbs according to grammatical person:
I am
you am
we am
he, she, it am
they am
you am
:smash:
U am da bestest at grammer.
Yeah, but their all stupid :2thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by Elite Ferret
:laugh4:
i speak some mandarin thanks to my family and uh....... yeah it is a very different transition.Quote:
I'm Chinese. Just imagine the transfer between phonetic and character-based......
I also speak a bit of French, Spanish, and German. English, with no genders for words, is unbelievably simple. Of course, we have to balance that out with absurd pronounciation.
i also know a pretty solid amount of russian thanks to family as well but i can't evenn imagine being fluent.
english is a hard language and i have trouble with our own grammar let alone russian and mandarin grammar. ugh
Male Chairs and Female Tables.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fragony
Why did they need to give everything a gender?
:help:In English I think chairs are weak-feminine, but I'd have to check. We lost inflection after the Normans arrived (ironically).Quote:
Originally Posted by Beskar
*English grammar is just as complex as that of any human language.Quote:
Originally Posted by Centurio Nixalsverdrus
*English native speakers definitely care about correct use of the language, and are as unlikely to make genuine grammatical mistakes as native speakers of any language.
*English vowels experienced a shift in the early modern period. If the orthography hadn't already been fixed, there'd probably be no confusion between English's and other languages' vowels. It's an artifact of the orthography, as English has basically the same vowels as most other European languages (though our mid vowels are universally diphthongized, and we've got a particularly rich lax vowel inventory).
*Again, English grammar is as rich as any natural language's. The greatest problem faced by English speakers learning other languages is the worldwide prevalence of English. If English speakers felt a greater need to learn other languages, and especially if we started learning them much younger, it would be much easier for us.
English syntax is sufficiently rigid that it doesn't require a richer morphology. Most verbs have only one present-tense variant (the 3rd person singular), a random relic, and would be just as clear if that form were the same as all the others. Because be is still highly inflected, it looks weirder to level it, but it would do no more to inhibit meaning.Quote:
Originally Posted by Viking
Ajax
Well, English technically isn't my first language, but it's the one I'm most fluent in.
I know all the grammar, but ignore certain rules either for ease of use or because I just disagree with them.
I sometimes devolve into an Eastern-Europeanish accent when aggravated.
God, I need to study linguistics or something.Quote:
Originally Posted by ajaxfetish
Gaol?
Seriously, what is that!
Guernsey?
What. the. hell.